Relative Twilight
by Zara1515
Summary: Imagine if Bella had a sister who came with her to Forks, an...unnautural sister. This is a Twilight with more than vampires and werewolves. This is a Twilight with magic. With vampires, magic and a new character will Bella and Edward fall in love?
1. Taking Off

**This is my first FanFic please review **

**Author's note Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia. **

Bpov

We were at the airport. The sky a perfect cloudless blue. My passport was out, my back bag was packed and my patience was thinning.

"Will you hurry up?" I called

They completely ignored me holding each other as if they were never going to see each other again. As much as I loved this city I did not want to be standing in an airport forever watching my half sister and her boyfriend snogging.

My mother took this opportunity to ask, for the thousandth time "You don't have to do this"

I turned to her and put a smile on my face for her benefit "I _want_ to go" I lied. I was a bad liar which was annoying because my sister was a great one.

"Well" she said uncertainly "Tell Charlie I said hi"

"I will" I promised

"I'll see you soon – I'll come right back if you need me" she said and I got the increasing feeling that she was trying to buy time. She hugged me and looked at my sister but it seemed unlikely she was going to get a hug from her.

"Don't worry about us we'll look after each other" I urged and she turned to go walking away.

I turned to my sister who still had her hands around her boyfriend's neck.

"_Anastasia will you get a move on_!" I shouted

They didn't look at me and then I heard a click of heels hurrying towards me again "Oh Bella really you don't have to go you can come with us-"

I shut my eyes and looked at her "Please mom I'll be fine honest" I growled through gritted teeth then turned and screamed "ANASTASIA _COME ON!!!_"

It was a four hour flight to Seattle, flying doesn't bother me too much but Anastasia was worrying all the way, not about herself though.

"Do you think Zarbien's alright?" she said clearly forgetting she'd already asked me four times already

"He'll be fine, cats fly in the luggage compartment all the time" I assured

"Yeah but he's not an ordinary cat" she said running her fingers through her long raven black hair

You can say that again I thought

"Look we're only going to be flying for another hour, he can handle being in a cat cage for that long" I said

"Yes but he's hates being a tiny cat and he _really_ hates cages" she said miserably

I sighed "Anastasia you cannot take lions on an aeroplane"

"I know I know" she nodded then started unbuckling her seatbelt

"What are you doing?" I asked grabbing her shoulder

"I'm going to see if he's alright" she said standing

I dragged her down "They will not let you in the luggage compartment" I growled

"They'll have to" she said determinedly "I can take care of anyone who gets in my way"

I stood up to "Anastasia if you go in there I will...I will kill you" I ended lamely

She just stared at me but sat down and tapped her fingers for almost an hour. It was annoying but it was better than her trekking to the luggage compartment

Eventually an airhostess came over "Are you alright miss?" she asked

Anastasia looked at her "I'm perfectly fine" she said and then tilted her head and moved her hand in a spiral gazing into the airhostesses eyes

The airhostess looked dazed and stumbled away.

"Why d'you do that?" I asked

"I heard them down there they think I might be on drugs" she said wearily

I looked down to the other end of the plane at the group of nervous looking airhostesses raised my eyebrows and fought the urge to laugh.


	2. Reunions

**Thank you for the reviews you have encouraged me to continue **

**Author's note Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia. **

**Bpov**

Eventually we landed and I nearly died of relief. Anastasia was reunited with her cat and we headed out the airport thankfully without overly romantic boyfriends and crazy hare brained mothers to slow us down.

Then I met up with my dad Charlie. He gave me a one-armed hug.

It was going to be an hour in the car. Now this was trouble too. It was going to be awkward both with me and Charlie and especially awkward with Anastasia and Charlie. None of us were really the talking casually type, my mind had gone blank anyway.

Then Anastasia approached and a silence fell upon all of us.

"Charles" said Anastasia coldly

"Anastasia" he replied in exactly the same tone

They stared in what could be described as a glare.

I sighed and got into the car. They didn't speak at all. They literally loathed one another. Charlie wasn't Anastasia's dad and he seemed to put all the blame for mom's affair on my sister. Why I'll never be sure.

I sat in the front seat of the cruiser whilst Anastasia took the back with Zarbien who already was out of the cat cage he had been imprisoned in previously. I could practically smell the tension between my two family members. I stared at the window at the rain miserably. I knew there was going to be no sun here, I had already bid farewell to it.

"So how are things back in phoenix then Bells?" he asked

"Great" I said jumping on the conversation "Mom's fine, she says hi"

He smiled then tilted his head

"And how are things down in the underworld?" he said to Anastasia

Oh Great.

"Wonderful, as long as you're not here life's just perfect wherever I am" she replied

"Hmm. Why are you coming anyway won't Satan's son miss his girlfriend? Can't you go torture him instead?" Charlie asked and I hit him on the shoulder

"Yes he will miss me. How's your social life by the way?" she asked and I looked back at her then at Charlie

"Great since you left it's just been wild" he replied and I raised my eyebrows

"In the next five seconds name any women you've so much as made a move on" challenged Anastasia "One, two..."

Charlie stiffened and seemed to be thinking.

"Three, four..." said Anastasia leaning back triumphantly

"Eleanor Ridale" he said quickly

We both stared at him

"Eleanor Ridale the married fifty-two year old who looked like a fish?" said Anastasia

"No" Charlie said lamely "A...different Eleanor Ridale"

Anastasia smiled and sat back stroking Zarbien.

It was seventeen minutes before anyone spoke again.

"I got you a good car Bells" Charlie said eventually "Really cheap"

"What kind of car?" asked suspiciously imaging an old broken thing which people would laugh at me at school for.

"Well it's a truck actually, a Chevy"

"Where did you find it?" I asked

"Do you remember Billy Black down at La Push?" he asked referring to the tiny Indian reservation on the coast.

"No"

"He claimed I hit him with a tree" said Anastasia helpfully from the back

I raised my eyebrows and my mind flashed back. Of course, Anastasia had nearly killed him felling a tree and no matter how many times she said it was an accident he still wouldn't believe her. How could I forget? I do a good job of blocking painful unnecessary things from my memory though.

"He's in a wheelchair now" Charlie said and I winced wondering if the tree incident could have contributed to this disability

"Anyway he can't drive anymore and he offered to sell me his truck cheap"

"What year is it?" asked Anastasia from the back "Was it popular amongst the dinosaurs?"

"It's only a few years old" he snapped

"When did he buy it?" I asked

"Um..." Charlie thought

"Just tell us was it popular amongst cavemen because Neanderthals jobs are never good" Anastasia taunted

"Shut up!" snarled Charlie then simmered down "He bought it in 1984 I think"

"Did he buy it new?" I asked

"Well, no. I think it was new in the early sixties – or the late fifties at the earliest" he said sheepishly

"Great we're driving around in Led Zeppelin's car. We'll look great. Now we just have to avoid any grassy knolls and we'll be fine" said Anastasia

"Dear God you really are a _devil_. And besides the car isn't for you it's for Bella" he relied angrily

"I starting to feel a little thankful" she said

"How cheap is cheap?" I asked thinking of how little money I possessed

"Well honey I already bought it for you. As a home-coming gift" Charlie said raising his voice as if Anastasia couldn't hear him

Wow. Free.

"You didn't need to do that, Dad. I was going to buy myself a car."

"I don't mind. I want _you_ to be happy here" he said looking out at the road. I did the same partly so I just couldn't see my sister's face.

"That's really nice, Dad. Thanks. I really appreciate it" I said giving him a supportive smile

"Well, now, you're welcome" he said turning a little pink at my thanks

"Yuck, the happiness up there is sickening" said Anastasia to Zarbien from the back. Mood killer.

"Yes well unlike you we actually have feelings" retorted Charlie "Not like you cruel soulless-"

"Look we're here" I interrupted swiftly

Charlie looked and realised we had nearly missed our own house. He hit the breaks. When he got into an argument with Anastasia it took all his focus.

He stopped the car and Anastasia was out at lightening speed Zarbien in her arms. I got out slower and looked around hit by a wave of green: the trees, their trunks covered with moss, their branches hanging with a canopy of it, the ground covered with ferns.

Dear God I wanted to go back to phoenix.

I looked up at the house, small, two bed roomed and rather old. But my eyes were dragged onto the street in front of the house where what I could only assume my new truck was. It was a faded red colour, with big round feathers and a bulbous cab. To my intense surprise I loved it. I didn't know if it would run but with Anastasia as my sister that didn't matter.

"Wow, Dad, I love it! Thanks!" Now my horrific day tomorrow would be just that little less awful. I wouldn't be face with the choice of either walking two miles in the rain to school or taking a ride in Charlie's cruiser which he wouldn't let Anastasia anywhere near from now on.

"I'm glad you like it" he said gruffly again

"I think I am actually going to be sick of this sweetness" murmured Anastasia pulling her bag into the house.

I took my stuff upstairs while Anastasia settled for the couch. Charlie had never bothered to get her a bed. His excuse being that they weren't related and it is surely a sin to dote upon the devil.

I had offered Anastasia to get a sleeping bag and sleep in my room but she declined saying she detested its colour which a shade of light blue. It also had yellow lace curtains which seemed babyish and Anastasia claimed sickening.

Charlie didn't hover I wasn't sure whether this was because Anastasia was here or not but he seemed to vanish pretty quickly. It was a relief to be alone and not have to fake smile or have to look pleased, I could just stare dejectedly out the window and let a few tears fall. Well with Anastasia this didn't really count at this she never cared if I didn't smile or look pleased in fact it kind of annoyed her if I did too much and she'd seen my cry enough times for me not to bother.

I thought about tomorrow and the school. It was going to be hard fitting in there just weren't enough people to work with. I could see myself as an alone reject, Anastasia would be in the year below me so I couldn't count on her aid during classes. I doubted Anastasia would care what people thought about her after all she was going to another school the minute she turned seventeen in august. I however would be stuck here; I would be the new girl from the big city, a freak.

I looked in my mirror, I didn't even look the way a phoenix girl should, and neither did Anastasia. We should be tan, sporty, blonde – a volley ball player, or a cheerleader, perhaps – all the things that go with living in the valley of the sun. I imagined Anastasia as a cheerleader and laughed, I could barely imagine her without her dark clothing let alone anything remotely bright.

We both had ivory skin, I had red hair and she had raven black, I had blue eyes and she had such dark brown eyes they looked almost black. We were both slender, and she was but an inch smaller than me. We were definitely not city girls.

I had slim to nil chances of fitting in at this school and unlike Anastasia I would care. I just didn't relate well to people my age. At my old school I was never fully accepted and Anastasia definitely wasn't. Anastasia was very different to me in a hundred thousand different ways despite us being sisters. Me and my mother are rather alike but never at harmony probably because of the ridiculous amount of secrets I keep from her based around Anastasia.

Oh well I thought and lay down to bed, it's not as if I could ever tell mom about Anastasia. My mother was harebrained, erratic and maybe a little crazy so she would take it worse than most mothers. And most mothers if not all would not take it well that their youngest daughter was a witch.


	3. Forks

**Author's note Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia.**

**Bpov**

I didn't sleep well that night, even after I was done crying. I tossed and turned but couldn't fall into unconsciousness. It didn't help that the constant whooshing rain and wind across the roof wouldn't die down.

It was nearly midnight and I sighed and headed downstairs to get a drink. As expected Anastasia was awake, she was a night person not a morning person, she was lying on the sofa with Zarbien on the floor.

"Charlie's asleep" I assured her and Zarbien who was lying on the rug as a small black and brown cat. He transformed back into a black-maned lion. We'd never told Charlie about Anastasia or Zarbien. Mom knew about Zarbien, how he could turn from a cat to a lion, but we'd told her he was a genetic experiment gone wrong and that if people found out about him they'd capture and kill him. That was enough for her. She was very animal friendly.

Charlie however would take the idea of a fully grown lion wandering freely around the house a lot more seriously and would show no hesitation of calling a small army of animal control.

"Can't sleep?" she asked from the sofa as I went threw the archway to the kitchen to get a drink

"How could you tell?"

"Because you're awake" she replied

I smiled.

"I heard you crying" she said without any particular pity or interest, more as just an observation.

"You have good hearing" I noted the obvious.

She smiled "You're father has thin walls...and an extremely uncomfortable couch" she said twisting around.

I felt a wave of pity for her and wished for the thousandth time that she and Charlie could just get along. It just wasn't fair.

"You worried about tomorrow?" I asked event though I already knew the answer

"No" she said flatly "Zarbien's going to be hanging round school as a cat"

I smiled back at our old school Zarbien had always lurked in school, without Zarbien in nearby range Anastasia's powers were much depleted.

I trudged back upstairs and pulled the old faded quilt over my head soon followed by my pillow too. I only fell asleep when the rain died down to a drizzle.

Thick fog was all I could see out of the window in the morning. I didn't like it I was claustrophobic and hated not being able to see where I was going. I wondered if I could persuade Anastasia to help. I'd already tried to persuade her to make it sunny here but her excuses were it's impossible to move the sun and she wasn't very good at weather spells.

I headed downstairs and saw Anastasia on the sofa dead to the world. I went over and shook her.

"Anastasia, Anastasia" I said and she groaned loudly

"C'mon we have to go to school today" I urged

"I don't want to go to school, five more minutes" she mumbled still mostly asleep.

"Oh get up" I said and pushed her clean off the sofa which she landed with a thud landing on Zarbien's tail who gave a yowl in pain and transformed back into a lion.

I panicked as I heard Charlie's footsteps "Change back, change back"

He did so grumpily. Anastasia gripped her head "Oww"

Charlie walked in "Good morning Bella." He said completely ignoring Anastasia who didn't as much as look round at him.

Breakfast was quiet "What do you want to drink Bells? I got orange juice apple juice? Sorry we don't have any eye of newt for you" he said glancing at Anastasia

"Pity it would be better than anything you could make" she said and wandered back to the living room with her food.

Charlie wished _me_ good look at school and I thanked him knowing his hope was wasted. Good luck tended to avoid me regardless how many good luck charms Anastasia offered me.

Charlie left first to the police station which Anastasia described as his wife and real family. I glared at her but she ignored me. After he left Anastasia was busy making a fuss over Zarbien so I just went back to the kitchen and observed its dark panelled walls, white linoleum floor and bright yellow cabinets. I smiled as I remembered when Anastasia had cast a spell on them to turn them black. Charlie was mad, he said they had looked great the way they were and painted them back the same colour. We both knew he wanted them that colour because they remind him of mom, she was the one who had painted them yellow in her constant attempt to bring sunshine into our lives.

Over the small fireplace in the adjoining handkerchief-sized family room was a row of pictures. First a picture of mom and dad in Las Vegas, then one of us three in hospital when I was born, taken by a helpful nurse, followed by the procession of my school pictures up to last year's. There was not a single picture of Anastasia, you would never guess she was in this family. In a way I almost envied that she didn't have a picture, they were embarrassing to look at. I wondered if I could get Charlie to put them somewhere else.

It was impossible in this house to not see that Charlie had never gotten over my mom; Anastasia had pointed it out more times than I could remember, but it still made me uncomfortable to see the truth of it.

I didn't want to be early for school but I knew that if I held back we would never get there; Anastasia always took forever and a day to go to school back home.

I donned my jacket – which had the feel of a biohazard suit and headed out into the rain.

"Anastasia come on!" I yelled for the tenth time

She stepped out into the fog with Zarbien at her heels and waves her hands in front of her making the fog disappear as if she were wiping condensation off a window.

"Get the key" I called as I got into the car without stopping to admire it again

She grabbed it from under the eaves by the door and locked up and climbed into the passenger seat.

It was nice and dry in the car and I flattened my wavy red hair which was now wet with the misty condensation that clung to it under my hood.

I looked at Anastasia and frowned, she looked perfectly dry there were raindrops on her but as they fell onto her black jacket they left no trace of wetness behind. She saw my expression.

"Water proof spell I started to learn it when I heard we were coming here" she explained

"And you couldn't have done it on me?" I asked indignantly

She shook her head "Don't know how to make the spell mobile yet"

I sighed and started the engine which roared into life idling at top volume, this truck had to have a flaw of which naturally Anastasia was quick to jump on. But the antique radio worked, a plus I hadn't expected.

We drove along through the rain and Anastasia sniffed "Does your dad smoke?"

She asked.

"What?" I said in confusion

"This truck reeks of tobacco and...gasoline and peppermint" she said with distaste

I sniffed and could faintly smell the things described. I didn't really care but hey, she had a better sense of smell than me.

Finding the school wasn't difficult even though I'd never been there before. The school was like most things, just off the highway. It wasn't obvious it was a school, only the sign that stated that it was Forks High School made me stop. It looked like a collection of matching houses, built with maroon coloured bricks. There were so many trees and shrubs I couldn't see its size at first. Where was the feel of institution? Where were the chain link fences, the metal detectors? Anastasia didn't seem to care about these things in the slightest and why would she? When she turned seventeen she was going to a whole new school completely different to any school I would ever see.

I parked in front of the first building which said Front office; no one else was parked there. I needed directions. I began to walk down the little stone path lined with dark hedges when Anastasia stopped and put Zarbien on the ground. She started talking to him presumably telling him whereabouts she would be.

"Anastasia hurry up" I moaned

She ignored me and I sighed and walked in on my own.

Inside it was brightly lit and a warmer than I'd hoped. It was a small room filled with plants, I found myself vaguely wondering what Fork's obsession with plants was, did they think they were going to run out of oxygen or something?

There were three desks behind the counter, one of which was marred by a large, red haired woman wearing glasses. She was wearing a purple T-shirt and instantly made me feel overdressed.

She looked up "Can I help you?"

"I'm Isabella Swan" I informed her, and saw the immediate awareness light in her eyes. I was expected, a top of gossip no doubt. Daughter of the Chief's flighty ex-wife, come home at last.

"Of course" she said and started fumbling around her desk

"And my sister will be here in a second" I added looking towards the door. Why did my sister always take so long?

The woman looked up "Your sister?"

I turned back "Yes my sister, Anastasia Ravenson, we have different second names" I explained

The woman frowned and started hunting. Then Anastasia walked in. The woman gave a jump and I rolled my eyes. Anastasia had to push open both double doors didn't she just as gust of wind blew in this direction? She looked very out of place in this room. She was dressed in black combats, a black jacket and a dark purple long sleeved T-shirt. She walked forward to the desk frowning at the orange flecked commercial carpet as if it was annoying her.

She came up to the desk and the lady went back to hunting.

"What's the problem?" she demanded reading my face

"They can't find you on the records" I replied

She frowned "Oh"

She looked towards the loudly ticking clock and shut her eyes in annoyance. I stood there willing her not to do anything stupid.

Eventually she leaned over the counter as the woman was bent down, scanned the space and her eyes flashed. Instantly a set of sheets shot out from a large pile and hit the lady on the nose knocking her back.

Anastasia smiled and I glared at her.

"Yes found them" the woman said getting up looking disgruntled and embarrassed.

"Oh good" I said through gritted teeth

The woman's eyebrows raised "Yes, you're down here but you've been put in two totally different forms, the chief didn't put down anything about you being sisters or even related to him" she said to Anastasia

Well he wouldn't would he I thought bitterly

"We're not related, me and the chief, thank god for that" Anastasia said "I'm her younger half sister"

The lady nodded strangely looking as if she didn't want to be near Anastasia anymore. Great way to start.

"Here are your timetables and a map of the school" she said handing us a few sheets of paper. She started to explain the timetables to us, going through our classes. Anastasia started drumming her fingers on the desk constantly looking at the ticking clock. The woman trailed off and then just smiled awkwardly and told us she hoped we would like it here in Forks. I smiled back as convincingly as I could and then left with Anastasia.

When we were outside I stared at Anastasia as we started going back to the car. She ignored me. I kept staring and in the end she turned to me.

"What?" she demanded

"What was that, in there?"

She sighed "That room was making me feel sick, that woman was weird and that annoying clock kept ticking"

I gaped at her "You used magic in the open because of a _clock_?" I said incredulously

"I have better hearing than you, it was really loud and annoying" she snapped

I put a hand to my head. She wasn't going to last a minute undercover in a school this small. We shut up then in case anyone else was around.

We got back into the safety of the car. We drove around the school following the line of traffic I was just examining the quality of the cars when a thought struck me "Hold on when you say that woman was weird, you didn't mean..." I trailed off

Anastasia smiled "You are such a worry guts. No she was human, I'm sure of it, it was just weird the way she acted OK?" she said

"OK" I said feeling paranoid

We got a spot and climbed out quickly turning off the engine to attract attention. I chuckled at the thought; at this rate the truck would be the last thing that drew attention to us.

I looked at the map trying to memorize it. Hopefully I wouldn't have to spend all day with my nose in it. I stuffed everything in my bag, slung the strap over my shoulder and sucked in a huge breath. I can do this I lied to myself feebly. No one was going to bite me, well I corrected myself, until Anastasia's done her supernatural search I wasn't truly sure of that but still.

"Anastasia" I said as we started to head different ways

"Yeah?" she relied

I couldn't say a lot of the things I wanted to say in case we were heard so I just said "Please don't do anything stupid"

Anastasia smiled "Bella don't worry, you know me" she laughed and walked off. I know, I thought grimly, that was the problem.


	4. New Friends

**Apov**

**I walked through the corridor casually scanning the people, looking for supernatural activity. So far, zilch. I headed to my first classroom Mathematics and everyone looked at me. I raised an eyebrow in a manner which clearly stated stop staring at me you annoying pathetic people. **

"**Ah so you are..." **

"**Anastasia Ravenson" I finished for him **

"**Err...oh yes" he said "We just got news of you" **

**I fought the urge to roll my eyes. My half sister's impossibly annoying, stupid, idiotic father had done this on purpose. So that all the teachers would be mixed up. He'd done it just to annoy me, dear God I hated him. **

**I quickly turned my face blank in case my inner frustration was showing on my face. **

"**Right well I'm Mr Forder your mathematics teacher, now where are we going to put you?" he said scanning around **

**I'd already scanned around and could see no obvious supernatural or mythical life anywhere so I just wanted to sit alone. **

"**I'll sit here" I said going towards the only empty desk and sitting down. I didn't to be stuck next to anyone else. **

**I sat down and he frowned at me, he clearly hadn't meant I get to choose, oh well. I stared at him daring him to contradict but not in too much of an obvious way. **

**He went back to the board looking rather flustered and started explaining what we were doing. I'd always found maths extremely boring. Once I learnt to count, add, subtract, times and divide I honestly didn't care about maths, which was probably why I was so bad at it. At my old school we were allowed to choose whether we wanted to do maths in my year but here it was compulsory until you were in Bella's year, but I wasn't even going to be here next year, thank God. **

**A lot of people looked at me and I ignored them. I wasn't good at making friends, well at least not human friends. I'd try regardless mainly for my sisters sake. If I didn't make friends she'd try to make them for me. **

**When the bell rang a harsh buzzing sound and I nearly jumped out of my skin. Sometimes good hearing can pose a terrible disadvantage, especially when you have just chosen the desk underneath the bell. **

**I headed out of the class and a girl with orange and I mean startling bright orange hair came up to me. **

"**Hi are you Isabella Swan's sister?" she asked **

"**Half-sister yeah" I said nodding **

**I never think of Bella as Isabella, it didn't sound right. No doubt her brainless father had given everyone the wrong name. Jesus what was wrong with him. **

"**I'm Sarah" she said **

"**Anastasia" I replied checking if she was human **

"**Oh" she smiled "Can I call you Stasia?" **

**I looked at her, definitely human, then said coldly "No" **

**She then giggled "Alright but I give everyone nicknames, it's my thing, I'll think of one for you" **

**I stared at her. Don't you dare I thought. Her smile was making me a little nauseated. **

"**Where's your next class?" she asked I looked at my chart. Biology. **

"**English" I replied **

"**Oh my God me too" she beamed "I'll see you there" **

**Then she skipped off and I shook my head. What a weirdo. I turned around after telepathically tying her shoelaces together. **

**I headed out into the drizzling rain. **

"_**Flumantho**_**" I whispered at felt a shiver go through my body as I became water proof. I stepped outside and saw Zarbien near a row of bushes. I smiled and walked over to him. **

_**How was it? **_

**It sucked. **

_**That bad **_

**Yep **

**We could commune telepathically which was a good thing because I'd have looked like a total nut job talking to a cat. I stroked him at the back of his neck which he loved. **

"**Cat person then?" said a voice behind me **

**I turned around and saw two boys. One had short floppy blonde hair and looked like the kind of boy you see on an English rugby team the other had long white hair tied back in a scruffy ponytail with half a fringe and was slim but not overly muscly like the other boy. **

"**Cute cat" said the big muscly one and took a step forwards to stoke him. "What's her name?" Zarbien hissed baring his fangs and the boy fell back. **

"_**He**_** doesn't trust strangers" I explained feeling rather amused **

"**He's your cat then?" he asked **

**I nodded. **

"**Well who doesn't love cats?" he said looking at Zarbien warily **

**I frowned and the other boy shook his head and stepped forward. **

"**This is Brian, he's an idiot just ignore him" he said stepping forward and putting a hand on his friends shoulder who looked very annoyed at this statement. **

**I looked at the second boy and my senses went into overdrive. Not human. He **_**looked**_** human pale skin, tall, midnight blue eyes but I could **_**sense**_** it. **

"**Brian don't you have English?" he said **

"**What oh yeah?" he said reluctantly. He looked at me "See you" then looked at Zarbien who just hissed. **

**The boy strode away and a smile crept across my face. **

"**So who are you?" I asked**

"**I'm Scorpius" he said **

"**And **_**what**_** are you?" I persisted **

**He laughed blowing his half fringe out of his face. "Wow, you really get to the point don't you?" **

**I shrugged "I like to know the details" **

**He smiled "Warlock" **

"**I thought so" I agreed **

"**Witch?" he asked glancing at Zarbien and back again **

"**Yep, Anastasia and your the first non-human I've met here" I said **

"**Well them I'm very honoured. Let me be the first to introduce you into the very small supernatural world of Forks" he said raising his arms slightly as if he owned the school **

"**So what was your friend back there, part troll by any chance?" I joked **

**Scorpius chuckled "No he's human but sometimes I do wonder" **

**I smiled. It was weird when I was around supernatural beings I could be much more sociable, friendly even but when I wasn't... **

_**Hey I'm a supernatural being **_**said Zarbien indignantly **

_**Yes but your part of me, my familiar, my other half **_

**Zarbien raised his head proudly **_**And don't you forget it**_

"**Walk you to your next class?" he asked **

"**Sure" I said and we went to our next few lessons together. **

**When it came to P.E. I had to sit out because I had no kit. Scorpius told the coach he had forgotten his own too when he hadn't. This brought up numerous complaints from his team and sighs of relief from the opposition. **

"**So who else is supernatural around here?" I asked as we sat away from the game where no one could hear us**

"**Well-" he began then ducked as the basketball hit just where his head had been. Most humans wouldn't have reacted quickly enough. **

"**Well for a while there was just me and my older brother and this other girl in the year above" he said **

"**Older brother?" I enquired **

**He nodded "Kanan. But he turned seventeen and went of to our kinds college" **

**I always liked it when people said our kinds. It just made me feel different and special which I was. **

"**My boyfriend's in college. Which year's you're brother in they might know each other?" I asked **

"**He's seventeen, first year, looks just like me" he replied **

**I shook my head "Nope, Zeke, that's my boyfriend, he's eighteen second year. Shame" **

"**When are you going?" he asked **

"**Not till august" I said feeling rather miserable about it "you?" **

"**Three months" **

"**Lucky thing" I said bitterly he just smiled **

"**Am I with you for anything else?" I asked **

**He pulled out his timetable "Yes you are, I heard you were coming, I delve into these things just in case. I suspected you might be a witch so I switched some of your lessons" **

**I raised my eyebrows "You just **_**suspected**_** I was a witch?" **

"**Well Ravenson is a known witch name and Anastasia is not a popular name amongst humans anymore" he shrugged **

"**I thought no-one knew I was coming my sister's stupid father didn't tell anyone" I said bitterly **

"**Yeah well warlocks are smarter than humans. Is your sister a witch like you got a boyfriend in magic school and such" he said **

**I laughed "No, no Bella's a human, she's staying here and she definitely doesn't have a boyfriend, I think she's scared I blow his head off" **

**He looked at me sideways "Would you?" **

**I thought about it "Probably" **

**He smiled, I'd made a friend.**

"**Who do you want to win the match?" I asked rolling up my sleeves **

"**The Reds" he said and grinned at me **

**Silently we took control of the game making the ball spin in different directions hitting the opposition in the face, we messed with some of the players heads so they tripped and crashed into each other falling down like skittles. In the end Reds won. **

**Things were running fairly smoothly until my forth class. The lesson was biology. It was destined to go badly I think.**


	5. Bad Biology

**Thank you for all your reviews **

**Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Scorpius **

**Apov**

Things were running fairly smoothly until my forth class. The lesson was biology. It was destined to go badly I think. First I walked into the class and my hair got thrown about by a fan that was annoying. Then the teacher, Mr Branner, introduced me in front of the class which was annoying. He also called me Anastasia Swan. Big mistake. I gave him a very unswanlike correction and cast a small itching spell on him which would last a good few hours. He tried to seat me next to this creepy looking boy with a great number of piercings on his face and badly dyed purple Mohican, I didn't move and then Scorpius suggested to the teacher that I sit next to him. The teacher agreed luckily for him.

I was sat near the front. The tables were built very close to each other. To my annoyance the girl on the neighbouring table who introduced herself as Lady was the talkative type.

Seriously that was her name Lady. She took the liberty of explaining that her parents called her this after watching Lady and the Tramp a fact I didn't ask her to tell me.

The teacher told us about this new science programme we would be doing, it sounded extremely complicated and I knew it was going to last along time. Then we were set a small mountain of homework God.

I put my head down and started looking over the work. Everyone else seemed to be at grips as to what to do whereas I was stuck. I could name a hundred magical herbs and their uses, I could create wondrous potions from living things, I could do that kind of biology, I could not do this.

I sat there putting my hand to my forehead wondering what to do when the sound of the ticking clock up at the front really started to get to me. I tried to block it out but it didn't work.

Tick tock Tick Tock

I went running along the question which kept babbling about variables and structures and a whole manner of weird and frustrating things.

Tick Tock Tick Tock

I wasn't like Bella I wasn't in an advanced science programme, if anything I should be in the very unadvanced programme.

Tick Tock Tick Tock

God I couldn't wait to go to this new school. I might actually be a good student there; but here I was just useless.

Tick Tock Tick Tock

Oh for Gods sake what was wrong with that clock! I had to shut it up before it drove me crazy. I concentrated then heard Bella's words when we decided to come to Forks "Don't cast any spells, don't hurt anyone, don't break anything, don't blow up anything, don't..."

I shook my head and ignored her on going list of rules and concentrated on the inside of the clock and stopped the ticking device. Except that didn't happen that way. I did concentrate on the inside of the clock but at that exact moment the door opened and a messenger from another class came in breaking my concentration.

The clock literally exploded in a shower of glass. A few people screamed in shock as the glass sprinkled the floor and one of the clock hands fell to the floor with a thud whilst the other hung loosely. The clock hands which were made of metal flew and hit the boy with the Mohican and slashed his face. The teacher looked very surprised, the boy at the door looked shocked and I could see Scorpius next to me shaking with choke-back laughter.

Oh great. Bella was gong to find out about this.


	6. Who's here?

**I'm sorry the last chapter was a little dull and this one is rather short but I am in a rush today. **

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Scorpius **

**Apov  
**

At lunch me and Scorpius went our separate ways and I went to lunch to find Bella.

I was there first and sat down at the empty table giving anyone who so much as considered sitting there a very dark glare. Eventually I spotted Bella walking with a small girl with wild curly dark hair. A boy in the canteen waved at her across the canteen beckoning her to sit with them and I frowned. She looked and spotted me then gave an apologetic shrug and sat by me.

"You are going to ruin my social life here you know that?" she said sitting down

"That's the plan" I said taking a bite out of an apple

Bella looked at me "So..." she said in a quiet voice

I smiled "So what?" I said tauntingly

She sighed "Come on tell me who...whose here?" she pulled out her notebook

I swallowed my apple "I've haven't seen everyone but I've met one warlock called Scorpius, he's in my year he's sixteen"

"Just one warlock?" she said looking surprised writing his name down "A good one?"

"I think so. So you're perfectly safe" I assured her

She gave me a look.

I took another bite out of my apple and then there was a silence which Bella broke. "You're lying there are others who are they" she demanded

"All Scorpius – the warlock – said was he his brother and the girl in the year above" I said but then remembered he said '_For a long time _it had just been...' I decided to not tell Bella this. Back in phoenix we were in such a large school it was hard not to bump into a supernatural down the corridor. I knew that was the main reason Bella was never accepted because she wouldn't accept a lot of other people anyway, she was too scared. Before she would get close to anyone she made me do a full supernatural check.

"What girl? In my year, what's her name? What's her species?" she asked

I rolled my eyes "I didn't ask, Bella for Gods sake stop being so panicky it's only our first day"

Bella leaned forward crossly "I like to know what I'm up against"

I sat back "Up against? Bella we're not here to fight anyone"

"I know I know I've just seen some of the things you can do and...some of it worries me. There _must_ be some other supernatural people here, their _must_ be"

I sighed then look past her and then smiled "There you go" I said and pointed "They're not human"

She turned very fast and followed to where I was pointing, to the corner of the cafeteria, where five clearly non-human people were sitting.


	7. First Sight

**This chapter is from Bpov, the good thing is it's longer than my past two entries the bad thing is a good few of the lines are similar to the ones in the book **

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – Except Anastasia **

**Bpov**

I whirled round and saw them. There were five of them.

They weren't talking; they weren't eating, though each had a tray of untouched food in front of them. So they didn't eat human food, which was worrying. They weren't staring at me like the other students had been for the whole day so it was fairly safe to stare at them and analyze them. They held my full attention.

They didn't look anything alike. Of the three boys one had dark curly hair and looked like a serious weight lifter, very strong, not good. Another was taller leaner but unfortunately also muscly. The last was lanky, less bulky, with untidy bronze coloured hair. This didn't mean he couldn't be dangerous though.

The girls were opposites. The tall one was statuesque. She had a beautiful figure, the kind you saw on the cover of _Sports Illustrated_ issue, the kind that made every girl around her take a hit on her self-esteem just by being in the same room. Her hair was golden, gently waving to the middle of her back. She looked what I'd imagine a siren would look like but of course she wasn't one, Anastasia promised they didn't live this far inland.

The short girl was thin in the extreme with small features. Her hair was deep black, cropped and pointing in every direction. Most humans would describe her as pixie-like but I'd seen real pixies and she looked nothing like one. Real pixies were tiny with razor sharp teeth.

In a different way they were all very alike, they were all chalky pale, the palest of everyone here, they all also had very dark eyes despite their range in hair tones. They also had dark shadows under their eyes – purplish, bruise like shadows. I wondered if they got them from fighting. Did they fight a lot?

They were all inhumanely beautiful. Obviously not human. But what were they? I knew a lot of creatures but less than Anastasia, she would know.

"What are they?" I asked almost forgetting to lower my voice

She just shrugged carelessly concentrating on her lunch.

"Tell me" I hissed

She looked up "Your confidence in my instant visual knowledge of species is flattering but unfortunately overestimated"

I exhaled "I thought you could sense them, their powers"

"I can sense magic, honest to god magic, not powers. They're not witches, magicians, warlocks, sorcerers or anything of magical origin. I can tell you that much. If you want to find out more you'll have to ask them" she said

I stared at her incredulously "_Ask _them what they are, what if they react really aggressively?"

She rolled her eyes "You can never see the good points in mythical beings can you, they're all just dangerous to you"

I deflated seeing her point and didn't speak of it again but did make a mental note to find out their names and put their names down on my list.

"I'm done" said Anastasia getting up "I'm going to find Zarbien"

I looked at her tray, she never really ate much. I looked at my tray which was untouched. I said by as she walked away.

"Hey" called Eric, a boy I met earlier, from the other table and I thankfully went over to sit next to him glad I wasn't going to be exiled in a canteen on my first day.

I sat down and started trying to catch up with them on the eating front. I unfortunately was bombarded with questions about everything.

"Who was that girl?" was just one

"That was my younger sister Anastasia" I replied

They frowned at one another "We weren't told you had a sister"

I wasn't particularly surprised "She's my half sister, not related to Charlie" I said and they nodded. I took this moment to ask the question I wanted to know

"Who are they?" I asked indicating the non-humans

They looked and my neighbour giggled in what I thought was embarrassment looking round at them.

"That's Edward and Emmet Cullen, and Rosaline and Jasper Hale. The one left is Alice Cullen; they all live together with Dr Cullen and his wife" she said under her breath

I memorised their names, I couldn't bring out my notebook here. Assuming this Dr Cullen and his wife were whatever they were that made seven of them.

I glanced at one of them who was picking his bagel to pieces with long pale fingers, I wondered if he could pick humans to pieces that easily.

He started talking very quickly and I wondered what he was saying wishing I had better hearing.

They weren't really popular names, well except Alice. They were old names, I wondered how old they were, probably not the age they looked.

"They're..." I said unconsciously and then realised I'd spoken out loud "very nice looking" I finished lamely. On the outside lamely.

"Yes!" Jessica agreed with a giggle "They're all _together_ though – Emmet and Rosaline, and Jasper and Alice, I mean. "And they live together." Her voice held shock but I wasn't in the least, a group of non-humans were likely to band together.

"Which ones are the Cullen's again?" I asked to determine each name to each person. "They don't look related..."

"Oh they're not. Dr Cullen is really young, in his twenties or early thirties. They're all adopted. The Hales are brother and sister, twins – the blondes – and they're foster children"

Well that determined the Hales. Adopted children, that's a pretty lame disguise "They look a little old to be foster children" I said to myself then realised I had spoken aloud again, what was wrong with me.

"They are now, Jasper and Rosaline are both eighteen, but they've been with Mrs. Cullen since they were eight. She's their aunt or something like that"

Hmm I thought.

"That's really kind of nice – for them to take care of all those kids like that, when they're so young and everything" I said trying to act the nice girl because some of the others were looking at me oddly and I wasn't ready to drop the subject.

"I guess so" Jessica admitted reluctantly. I got the impression she didn't like the doctor and his wife for some reason. A hundred reasons why that could be flew into my mind most of them ridiculously rash. Come on pull yourself together I told myself furiously, her look was probably just jealousy.

"I think that Mrs. Cullen can't have kids, though" she added

My eyes flicked to them again and back.

"Have they always lived in Forks?" I asked

"No" she said in a voice that implied it should be obvious, even to a new arrival like me, "They just moved here two years ago from somewhere in Alaska"

That posed a whole new set of questions and possibilities and unfortunately meant I wouldn't get as many answers as I would like from the students.

I went back to studying them for any obvious signs then the youngest one of the Cullens, looked up and met my gaze, this time with evident curiosity in his expression. I looked swiftly away so he couldn't see me.

"Which is the boy with the reddish brown hair?" I asked just to the girl next to me for the others had begun talking again. I peeked him through the corner of my eye, and he was still staring at me with a slightly frustrated impression, a chill went up my spine and I wished Anastasia was here.

"That's Edward. He's gorgeous, of course, but don't waste your time. He doesn't date. Apparently none of the girls here are good looking enough for him" she sniffed obviously wishing she was. I could have laughed, as if I'd be interested in a non-human, someone who might be able to kill me.

After a few minutes they all got up and left with surprising gracefulness. It was unsettling to watch. The one named Edward didn't look at me again.

I stayed with the others at lunch longer than I would have if I were alone. I was tempted to get up several times, to go and find Anastasia and tell her my news but I got the feeling she wasn't in the mood plus there were too many people here.

Regardless of the amount of time I spent with them I still had a hard time remembering all their names, my mind was on other things, one girl's name stuck in my head, Angela, I had Biology II with her next. We walked to class in silence, she seemed shy, this was a relief because my mind was a mile away.

When we entered the classroom, Angela went to sit at a black-topped lab table exactly like ones I was used to. She already had a neighbour. In fact all the tables were filled but one. Next to the centre aisle, I recognised Edward Cullen by his unusual hair, sitting next to that single open seat.

Oh no. I felt a slight panic cross me and then calmed myself. He wasn't exactly going to attack me in a classroom was he, not in front of all these witnesses? That would be ridiculous.

I walked down the aisle to introduce myself to the teacher and get my slip signed; I was watching him surreptitiously and worriedly. Just as I passed he went rigid in his seat. He stared at me again, meeting my eyes with the strangest expression on his face – hostile, furious. I looked away quickly shocked, redness flooding to my face. I looked away but not before I noticed that his eyes were black – coal black.

I'd always wondered how nobody else picks up on these things; I mean black eyes people, how obvious is that. Anastasia always said 'Only those who are or know about the supernatural see the supernatural'. It had never really made sense to me, if you tell someone about the supernatural and prove it then they'll be able to see it too but if you didn't they just stared through it like glass. I could see it because of Anastasia and she could see it because she was a witch.

Of course was seated next to him.

I sat down and stared at my book. Get a grip girl. My mind was at argument with itself. I'd faced angry non-humans before but on the other hand I'd always been under the protection of my magical half sister and her huge, powerful, damn near indestructible familiar.

He was leaning away from me as if I smelled of something bad. Weird. I just ignored him. Play the oblivious and you're no different to everybody else, that was my motto. I tried to listen to the teacher but was finding it a difficult task firstly because the lecture was on cellular anatomy, something I'd already studied and secondly I was being constantly glared at by a non human.

I couldn't help myself peeking occasionally through veil of hair I had made as a barrier between us. Despite the whole class he never relaxed his stiff position on the edge of his chair, sitting as far from me as possible. What was he expecting? Me to come near him? Hurt him? I could see his hand on his left leg was clenched into a fist, tendons standing out under his pale skin. This, too, he never relaxed. He had the long sleeves of his white shirt pushed up to his elbows, and his forearm was surprisingly muscular beneath his light skin. He wasn't nearly as slight as he looked next to his burley brother. This just made me feel worse; he was strong, strong and apparently very angry with me in particular, why I wasn't sure.

The class seemed to drag on longer than the others. Come on I looked up at the wall to the clock but I wasn't there in its place was the back of a broken clock as if it had been shattered. I didn't dwell on this and simply wished I'd brought a watch.

His fists never loosened, he didn't even seem to be breathing. I wondered furiously what he could be. I looked up at him again and regretted it; he was once again glaring down at me again. _If looks could kill_.

At that moment to my immense relief the bell went and Edward Cullen was out of his seat. Fluidly he rose – he was much taller than I thought – his back was to me, and he was out the door before anyone else was out of their seat.

I sat frozen in my seat, staring blankly after him. I was stuck next to a furious non-human for the rest of the year. It wasn't fair. I began gathering my things slowly, trying to block out the anger that filled me, for fear my eyes would tear up. For some reason, my temper was hard wired to my tear ducts. The opposite of Anastasia who I had never seen cry, in fact on several occasions I had actually wondered if witches actually couldn't cry, I'd never asked.

"Aren't you Isabella Swan?" a male voice asked interrupting my thoughts

I looked up to see a cute, baby-faced boy; his pale blond hair gently gelled into orderly spikes, smiling at me in a friendly way. He obviously didn't think I smelled bad.

"Bella" I corrected him forcing a smile

"I'm Mike"

"Hi Mike"

"Do you need any help finding your next class?"

"I'm headed for the gym, actually I think I can find it" I said. I didn't feel much like chatting to people now and even less going to the gym.

"That's my next class, too" he seemed thrilled, though it really wasn't that much of a difference in a school this small.

We walked to the next class, he was a chatterer- he supplied most of the conversation which I mostly didn't listen to. Out the tremendous amount he said all I really managed to take in was that he lived in California till he was ten, so he knew how he felt about the sun and that he was in my English class too.

As we entered the gym he asked "So, did you stab Edward Cullen with a pencil today or what? I've never seen him act like that"

I cringed, so I obviously wasn't the only one who had noticed. And apparently this wasn't his usual behaviour. Nope, he had it in for me; an unclassified non-human had it in for me. Not good. I decided to do my play dumb card again.

"Was that the boy I sat next to in biology?"

"Yes" he said "He looked like he was in pain or something"

_He_ was in pain I thought incredulously he'd nearly given me a heart attack acting so frighteningly.

"I don't know" I responded "I never spoke to him"

"He's a weird guy" he replied

No kidding I thought. Mike seemed to linger rather than go into the dressing rooms then said "If I were lucky enough to sit next to you I would have talked to you"

I gave him a smile before walking into the girls changing rooms; he was clearly the talking type.

The gym teacher, Coach Clapp, found me a uniform but didn't make me dress down for today's class. Back home you only needed to do sport for two years but here you had to do it for four years. This was a disaster for me, I am a danger hazard when it comes to sport I am the single most awful player in the world.

You may think from living with a witch sister, having faced numerous mythical beings several in unfriendly circumstances that I might actually be good at running jumping and dodging but no, I am awful.

Anastasia was great, as a witch she was faster and more agile than your average human, she also had _very_ quick reactions. She was great at P.E. despite how much she clearly found it boring.

I watched the volleyball games running simultaneously. Remembering how many injuries I had sustained – and inflicted – playing volleyball, I felt slightly nauseated.

The final bell rang at last. I walked slowly to the office to return my paperwork. The rain had drifted away, but the wind was strong and colder.

When I walked into the office, I almost turned and walked back out in alarm.

Edward Cullen was standing at the desk in front of me arguing with the receptionist in a low attractive voice. Thankfully he didn't notice me, I knew he wasn't going to do anything crazy really but I still got that paranoid feeling I always get around the supernatural – except Anastasia – that they are going to hurt me.

He was arguing to change his Biology lesson time to another time – any other time.

I still found it hard to believe this was about me. Could he have overheard me and Anastasia talking about the supernatural and was worried we would give him away or something? I honestly couldn't pin point a reason why he would hate me so much so quickly.

The door opened again and a gust of wind blew through the room, rustling the papers on the desk, swirling the hair around my face. The girl who came in merely stepped in to the desk, placed a note in the wire basket and left. But Edward Cullen's back stiffened, he turned slowly to glare at me again – his face was absurdly handsome – with piercing, hate-filled eyes. For an instant I felt a thrill of genuine fear, raising the hair on my arms, fighting the urge to run. Where was Anastasia when I needed her?

He turned back to the receptionist.

"Never mind, then" he said in a hasty voice like velvet "I can see that it's impossible. Thank you so much for your help." And he turned on his heel without another look at me, and disappeared out the door.

I walked meekly to the desk, my heart rate still racing and handed the receptionist the signed slip.

"How did your first day go dear?" she asked maternally

"Fine" I lied, my voice weak. She didn't look convinced. I was a terrible liar.

I headed outside towards where I parked the truck fighting tears of both relief that he had left and rebound fear from the look he had given me. I needed to know what he was, I needed Anastasia. I reached the truck in the lot, it was one of the last there, and there she was leaning against the truck arms folded, Zarbien at her ankles.


	8. Cullens, Cullens, Cullens

**Thank you for your reviews**

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Scorpius**

**Apov **

"I'm telling you, he wanted to _kill_ me" she said again

"Keep your eyes on the road" I said as the car started to slide to the wrong side of the road again.

She was over reacting, I knew it. She was always like this. Back in the old school she had been convinced that this werewolf had been chasing her around school to try and ambush her but in the end it turned out he just had a note for her. It was just typical.

She was only making such a big deal about these guys because they were the _only _supernatural creatures in the school. Bella just needed to be afraid of something, it was her fuel. I often wonder if she would have been happier if I had never introduced her to the supernatural world. How would her life unfold if it had been like that?

"He was glaring at me, with this incredible hatred. I think he wanted to hurt me" she said nodding gripping the steering wheel harder

I rolled my eyes "More likely he was annoyed because you kept staring at him trying to find out what he was"

"No you weren't there you didn't see the look he had" she said firmly

I gave up. I had hoped that one of the precious few good things about coming here would be that the small school would hold less supernatural life for Bella to freak out about, clearly I was wrong.

"I mean seriously if looks could kill I would be dead on my feet" she continued

I sighed "Look if it makes you feel better I'll ask Scorpius if he knows what they are tomorrow, happy?"

She paused "Yes, and if he doesn't know you'll have to find out"

Yes sir I thought in my head. Oh well, if I found out what they were maybe she'd stop being such a drama queen about them.

_She's really in one of her moods today _

I looked down at Zarbien who was sitting in my lap as a cat. I could sense he was just as sick of her over reacting as I was. My guess would be the boy had only so much as frowned at her once.

I spent the rest of the day multitasking. I did my some of my school human homework, studied my spell book, ate Bella's cooking and talked telepathically with Zarbien, however all these things I did with Bella persistently nattering in my ear about Edward Cullen.

While she cooked in the kitchen, it had become evident that her father was an awful cook amongst other things he possessed almost no food, she continued talking her voice flowing through the archway whilst making steak and potatoes.

She sat at the table with Charlie and talked a little but finished at incredible speed and was instantly back to bothering me again.

I actually looked up in my spell book the spell to seal someone's lips shut so they couldn't talk but unfortunately it was currently beyond me, I was only sixteen after all.

I only got rid of her when I went to get a shower. She was really getting on my nerves now. Her mad father didn't help constantly annoying me although one good thing came of him in that she shut up about Edward when he passed us.

God, she hadn't acted this paranoid in ages, she was bordering on idiotic.

She didn't leave till ten o'clock when I finally yelled that if she didn't go I would make Zarbien eat her. I lay down again and made a mental note to ask Scorpius what this stupid Cullen boy was, anything to make my sister _stop_.

The next day was better...and worse.

It was better in that Bella's pain in the ass father had gone in the morning so I didn't have to gaze upon his impossibly annoying face, it was better in that I managed to meet up with Scorpius after our first lesson in school and didn't have to go around tracing his line of magic to find him and it was better in that since I didn't have to go to the office I ran into no more ticking clocks.

It was worse in that Bella woke me up practically before dawn rambling about Edward Cullen and what she was going to do with him. She went on and on during breakfast, during the car ride, constantly up until we separated at school. I'd never been more pleased to be rid of her.

After first class I asked Scorpius the question Bella had been going on about all night

"Scorpius, you know the Cullens?" I asked as we walked

He paused for half a second then nodded "Oh yeah in the year above"

"What are they?" I asked

He smiled "Why are you so serious about taking this census?"

I smiled back "I'm not it's my sister that is and the Cullen's are her priority, I'm mainly just finding out these things to get her off my back"

"Oh well the Cullens, I noticed them instantly when they arrived a couple of years ago, obviously not human" he said "I looked into them after a while, out of curiosity not rudeness" he added swiftly

I nodded waiting for him to continue Zarbien following us waving his tail in a provocative manner.

"Well I'm not entirely sure because I've never talked to them but I'm pretty sure their vampires" he said

I stopped dead "Vampires?"

He stopped too "Yes, class two vampires, the ones that can come out in daylight but can't see through any form of glamour or magic."

I looked back to my magic books on the section about vampires. Class two vampires, I couldn't really remember them, they were probably rather dangerous but why would one hate Bella so much? This was going to drive Bella crazy.

"They don't know much about the supernatural world so I wouldn't be too fussed I've never seen them hurt anyone at school, I think they might even be animal hunting vampires, class two vampires can be" he explained stating a fact I already knew

"My sister thinks one's after her. She's a ridiculously paranoid girl but do you think one might want to bite her?" I asked

He frowned "I wouldn't see why more than anything else although I'm no expert on vampires, they seem a dull species to read about but I'd keep out of their way"

I nodded but decided to look them up when I got home. I forgot all about it soon getting back into conversation with Scorpius on a different topic, Bella was just being her worrying self.

The subjects were dull and any lesson that did not include Scorpius was impossibly boring. Back in my old school over the years I had only ever had two classes which didn't include at least one mythical being. Our classes were much larger back there and I was close friends with several, here however there was next to no-one. I had to talk like a human, act like a human and that was _so_ boring.

We were in English and we started studying the book Frankenstein. I smiled as I thought of the author who had in fact been a mythical creature herself, not a very impressive one though. The fraud had stolen the idea of creating life just to win some silly contest. She had got into serious trouble about that but they let her get away with it. People had been creating life for years but only necromancers could do it for real. Other species had just about managed to mirror life with technology but had been made illegal several centuries ago due to their instability and fear that humans would catch on.

"Anastasia could you please answer the question?" said the teacher

I froze broken from my vision.

"I missed the question" I said it was the honest truth and I wasn't particularly scared of the teacher.

He frowned at me looking very annoyed but didn't shout at me probably because I was new.

"I asked what are your views on the Frankenstein story?" he asked "What truth would you put to it?"

I raised my eyebrows, finally a question I could answer.

"Well I think it's unusual that a human would attempt to create a living being and impossible from _them_ to actually achieve it. It's also unethical in many societies to create a living being from human material it seems to be cheating the way of life, a right that only people properly equip to do should be granted. It is presumably also rather dangerous for any human to create a monster as proven in the book and if word were to leak out about it would surely cause possibly a panic amongst the living thereby letting a lot of unstable knowledge out to those who shouldn't hear it. However despite it's inaccuracy on a lot of accounts it does overall prove that humans should not attempt to make life for their own good" I said all in one and everyone stared at me looking confused including the teacher.

I felt a little puzzled had I said too much? I could have said a lot more about the Frankenstein story and some of the real truth behind it but I thought it would confuse them, if that confused them then they were just stupid.

"That's a...very colourful analysis. Does anyone else have an answer" he said sounding concerned

I sighed and leaned forward on my desk putting my hands in my arms, this was going to be a very boring day.

When lunch finally did arrive Scorpius was there and we found a table together. Today I didn't really want to sit with my sister but considering the state she was in I really didn't have a choice in the matter.

I looked over to the vampires table and noticed that Edward was missing. Bella had rambled on a about him so much last night I could tell him from the rest.

When eventually Bella did come in with a girl she looked tense and her vision instantly flew to the vampire table.

A boy with blonde hair intercepted them and started to steer them towards his table and for a brief moment I felt hope, then I saw her duck away and come towards mine and Scorpius's table. She sat down without any lunch.

"So what are they?" she said eyes flicking from me to Scorpius

"Well" I said calmly "We think, and this is a theory not a conclusion, we think they might be vampires"

"What!" she exclaimed so loudly a couple of the neighbouring tables looked around.

I sighed "Class two vampires yes"

"Oh my God" she said looking horrified "And one's after me? I have to get out of here" she said standing

"What?" both me and Scorpius said in unison but she had already left the table was heading for the door out of the cafeteria

"Bella come back" I called

She didn't even turn around just quickened her pace almost to a run.

I rolled my eyes.

"You going to go after her?" asked Scorpius

I shook my head "No, I don't want to hear her babbling about vampires, I'll give her some time to simmer down"

Scorpius smiled lunch went quite well until his troll like friend showed up.

When I went out to the car park I saw Zarbien sitting in the place where the car should have been. My jaw dropped. She'd left without me.

_Almost two of hours ago _

I stared and Zarbien and my eyes narrowed. I was going to kill her. I wondered if I could ask Scorpius for a ride, but he wasn't parked round here and may have already left.

_You'll have to give me a lift _

Zarbien immediately went towards the forest. One we were away from human sight he transformed back into a black-maned lion, his real shape. I smiled taking in his appearance, he was beautiful, larger than your average lion. When my powers really started to increase once I attended my new school he would really start to enlarge to about the size of that Azlan lion of that cheesy Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe movie. If you knew about real mythical life the human movies always seem silly.

I climbed delicately onto Zarbien's back, I weighed nothing to him he was extremely strong. I slung my single strapped back over my shoulder and braced myself putting my hands as far round his neck as they would go my face tickled my his black mane.

Then he ran and the world shot by me in a blur. I felt my hair fly backwards as we shot at super-speed back towards the house. I loved this feeling even if my stomach seemed to disappear every time it happened. In less than five minutes we were outside the house.

_Thanks _

_No problem _

_You'll have to turn back into a cat once I go back inside her freak of a father might be in _

He tilted his head.

_I'm not ready I'm going to have a run round the forest _

I nodded feeling a little disappointed. I didn't like to be that far away from him but I didn't want him to be miserable.

I went inside and searched the house and found Bella in her bedroom.

"Bella you left me at school without a ride. You left me" I snapped furiously

She looked at me "You always have a ride"

I almost growled "Zarbien isn't just a ride, how could you run out of school, he wasn't even here today?"

She stared at me "A class two vampire is after me and you're worried about me not being at school?"

"You are going back to school; you can't just ditch it because you feel like it. If you could do that I would have never set foot in that place" I retorted

"It's not that I don't feel like it" she replied

"No" I agreed and hissed "It's because you're a paranoid coward who's to scared to be in the same room as an even slightly possibly dangerous mythical creature who isn't related to you"

She flinched back as if I had slapped her but I didn't feel guilt, I felt as if I'd got something off my chest.

"That's not true" she whispered

"Oh yeah?" I challenged "Aside of me and Zeke when have you ever been friends with a non-human?"

She was silent.

"Admit you're being a paranoid coward" I spat

"Admit you don't care at all about my safety" she cried back

"_Admit that if I wasn't your sister you'd HATE me! Like the rest of my kind_!" I yelled.

With that I stormed downstairs and threw my bag with such force it knocked over one of Bella's father's hideous ornaments. I let out a growl of frustration and fell backwards onto the sofa putting the pillow to my face and screamed into it.

At half eight Bella came down the stairs and walked out the house announcing that she was going to get groceries. I looked at the time on the non-ticking clock and frowned. There was only one shop that would be open now, the twenty four hour shop. I didn't stop her just ignored her, if I was the first to speak a contradictory sentence I would be at the lower hand of the finale of the argument.

She arrived back at eleven with a single bag of food. I frowned again wondering if I sent her into some weird mental stage. Oh well, she'd get over it.


	9. In a Pickle

**Bpov **

**Anastasia stormed out of my room and I was left speechless. That was so not true, it really wasn't. **

**I sat there for a while and brought out some homework that I had for tomorrow, it was science and should have been easy for me since I'd done it at my old school but the words didn't seem to make any sense to me so I abandoned it. **

**I went to the computer and checked my e-mail. I had four messages. **

"**Bella and Anastasia" our mom wrote... **

_**Write me as soon as you get in. Tell me how your flight was. Is it raining? I miss you both already. I'm almost finished packing for Florida, but I can't find my pink blouse. Do either of you know where I put it? Phil says hi. Mom. **_

**I sighed and went onto the next. It was eight hours after the first yesterday morning. **

"**Bella and Anastasia" she wrote... **

_**Why haven't you e-mailed me yet? What are you waiting for? Mom. **_

**The third was from ten' o'clock today when she should have known I would have been at school. She wrote... **

_**Isabella and Anastasia, **_

_**If I haven't heard from you by 5:30p.m. Today I'm calling Charlie. **_

**I checked the clock. I still had an hour, but my mom was well known for jumping the gun.**

_**Mom, **_

_**Calm down. I'm writing right now. Don't do anything Rash. Bella. **_

**I sent that and began again. **

_**Mom, **_

_**Everything is great**_** – ****I lied – **_**Of course it's raining. I was waiting for something to write about**_** – ****Another lie – **_**School isn't bad**_** – ****A huge lie**** – **_**just a little repetitive. I met some nice kids who sit by me at lunch.**_

**I thought about her pink blouse and remembered the unfortunate incident of when Anastasia's summoning spell to get it out of the way had gone very wrong and disintegrated it. I paused then typed... **

_**As for your blouse I don't know. Why not get a new one? That one was getting old. **_

**Seemed believable enough. **

_**Charlie bought me a truck, can you believe it? I love it. Anastasia hates it. It's old but really sturdy, which is good, you know, for me. **_

_**I miss you, too. I'll write again soon and so will Anastasia, but even I'm not going to check my e-mail every five minutes. We have school remember. Relax, breathe, we love you. **_

_**Bella. **_

**I sat back and heard Anastasia's words in my head. She was wrong though, she was. I sat on my bed and then at my desk and then on the floor unable to stay in the same place. **

**I put my hands to my head then screamed my pillow wanting to sink into it. **

**I thought about want I wanted to do and could think of nothing. Then I thought about things I should do. Apologize to Anastasia? Was I really the bad guy in this argument? **

**For hours I did nothing but knew I should do something. I decided to go shopping; I could generally think when I was shopping. Food shopping, not clothes shopping. I went downstairs and passed Anastasia who was lying on the sofa with Zarbien. I didn't look at her just said I was going shopping, grabbed the money from the jar Charlie had labelled ****FOOD MONEY ****and headed out. **

**I went outside into the rain and drove to the twenty four hour shop getting faster and faster in the truck as if I was driving away from something and everything. **

**Eventually I parked the truck and walked into the shop my mind away. It was a good thing there were automatic doors otherwise I probably would have walked into them. **

**I grabbed at shopping basket and went down the isle and put some muffins in the basket then wandered down the isle unsure of what I was looking for. I stopped and picked up some pickled onions and my mind went blank. **

"_**It's because you're a paranoid coward whose to scared to be in the same room as an even slightly possibly dangerous mythical creature who isn't related to you" **_

"_**That's not true" **_

"_**Oh yeah? Aside of me and Zeke when have you ever been friends with a non-human" **_

"_**Admit you're being a paranoid coward" **_

"_**Admit you don't care at all about my safety" **_

"_**Admit that if I wasn't your sister you'd HATE me! Like the rest of my kind!" **_

"**Excuse me do you need any help?" asked the shop worker **

**I broke out of my trance and felt tears on my face**

"**What?" I said stupidly my voice rather broken **

"**I asked if you needed any help, you've been standing with that jar for almost ten minutes" she said indicating the jar I was still holding. **

**I put it back. **

"**Yes I'm trying to decide whether to get brown pickled onions or white pickled onions" I choked looking at the jars sitting next to one another **

"**It doesn't really matter what I pick though does it? I mean my sister got me into pickled onions in the first place; she didn't stop to think that I might not like the brown ones that I might actually like the white. And it doesn't really matter to her because she'll always like brown pickled onions and won't accept that I'm just not ready for brown pickled onions. So if I go home with the brown she'll be happy but I won't be able to eat them but if I go home with the white then she'll know I'm a coward because I can't even eat brown pickled onions" I half said half sobbed **

**The woman looked at me as if I was insane. I wiped my eyes and stood up trying to regain my sanity. **

"**So is there anything I can help you with" she said her voice implying that I needed someone else's help. A professional shrink perhaps. **

"**I just need some um...pickled onions" I said pulling myself together **

"**Brown or white?" she asked **

**I looked at the two jars side by side. Two opposing colours, two different tastes, for two different sisters. I sighed and knew which pickled onions I had to pick. **

**I looked around the shop which was almost deserted and knew that soon I was going to burst out crying and better at home than here. So I went to the counter and paid for my muffins and pickled onions, then left, the assistant looking very pleased to be rid of me. **

**I drove home thinking all the way, even the rumbling engine not enough to break my thoughts. I came in the house brought my single bag to my room rushing past Anastasia who hadn't moved from her previous position on the sofa. I sat in my room and ate three of the four muffins miserably looking at the clock which told me it was now almost half eleven. I just sat on my bed and cried myself to sleep. **


	10. Edwards Back

**I have been wondering if anyone would like to hear the story from the opinion of anyone else because I have only been using Bella and Anastasia. Who should I use more?**

**Anastasia **

**Bella **

**Edward **

**Charlie **

**New character **

**Other – please specify **

**Until I get 5 reviews requesting I will just keep alternating between Anastasia and Bella. Thank you for the reviews so far. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters – Stephanie Meyer does – except Anastasia **

**Apov**

I woke up in the morning for the first time not by Bella but by Zarbien rubbing his tiny whiskers along my nose. I yawned sleepily and sat up. Zarbien jumped onto the long low coffee table and nudged something with his paw.

I blinked and my vision returned. It was a muffin a muffin with a little note next to it. I picked up the note _Dear Anastasia I'm sorry about yesterday Bella _

I smiled. She was sweet. True she didn't know much about me owing to the fact I hate muffins but it was the thought that counts. I felt good, because I wasn't have to have any further arguments Bella today and because as always I had won one our rare large arguments.

_Well if you're not going to eat it..._

_It's yours_

Zarbien began to munch up the muffin taking the wrapping with it. It was strange he was my other half and yet he liked muffins. Oh well. I got ready, I was a little behind time since Bella hadn't woken me up.

We eventually got in the car, today it was raining hard and unfortunately my water proof spell didn't work very well so we both climbed in the truck soaking wet.

We drove for a while and didn't say anything.

_Should I say I accept her apology? _

_If you do she'll be on top of the argument _

_Yeah I guess _

"Anastasia about last night" she said eventually "I'm really sorry and I will not continue to obsess about the vampires"

"If they are vampires" I corrected "That's just a theory"

She didn't say anything. Maybe that wasn't the right thing to say. I suppose the correct to say would be "It's alright" or "I forgive you" or "Don't worry about it".

That wasn't my style; I would look weird saying those things. I didn't _want _to say any of those things.

We got to school and went our separate ways. I hadn't made it clear I'd forgiven her but she knew me well enough to know I had.

**Bpov**

I was forgiven, that was a relief. I was going to do this, I was going to get along with the vampires. It would take all my willpower but I could do it, I had to, for Anastasia.

As it turned out though Edward didn't come again. Maybe this wasn't going to be as hard as I thought. He didn't come for the whole week. Every lunch time I still waited in the cafeteria until all the vampires came without him just to be sure, they didn't have a problem with me, as far as I knew. I could relax and enjoy lunchtime conversation. Mostly it centred around a trip to La Push Ocean Park in two weeks that Mike was putting together. I had agreed to, out of politeness not desire, I planned to back out of it just before we went, but this way I was still involved with the conversation.

By Friday I was able to recognise, if not by name, almost all the students in my school. I had a good memory for names unlike Anastasia who had a better memory for monsters. Although recently I'd been trying not to think of them that way, I had decided to put myself in a new perspective.

In Gym, the kids on my team had learnt not to pass me the ball and to step quickly in front of me if the other team tried to take advantage of my weakness, kind of like Anastasia in the few times we had got caught up in fights back home against non-human creatures.

By Friday I was perfectly comfortable entering my biology class, no longer worried that Edward would be there. For all I knew he had dropped out of school. I tried not to think about him, I was too busy feeling pleased with myself for recently being so non-human friendly. I knew I had actually had no non-human contact but you get my drift.

The rest of my week in Forks passed without incident. Charlie unused to spending time with me in the usually empty house, worked most of the weekend. I tried to persuade myself that was the reason for his absence but really I was pretty sure it was because of Anastasia.

I cleaned the house, got ahead on my homework, and wrote to my mom more bogusly cheerful e-mail. All kinds of things to keep my mind off magic. Anastasia was quite the opposite. She littered the house with her spells that sometimes went wrong when she couldn't be bothered to do things the human way, she barely did any homework, she wrote to mom one fairly short letter and spent most of her time in the forest with Zarbien practising new magic.

I went to the library on Saturday, just intending to get books for myself. Human library's had nothing of interest to Anastasia, the only exception were books which bore a very small sideways lightning bolt which represented that they had a very small element of truth into the supernatural world.

When I got there it was so poorly stocked that I didn't even bother getting anything for me, not even a card. I made a mental note to go to visit Olympia or Seattle soon and find a good bookstore.

It rained softly over the weekend, quiet, so I was able to sleep well.

People greeted me in the parking lot on Monday morning. I didn't know all their names, but I waved back and smiled at everyone. Nobody greeted Anastasia and even if they had I knew that she wouldn't have reacted friendly – well except maybe to Scorpius.

Something surprising happened after English with Mike, the air was full of tiny bits of white. I could hear people shouting excitedly to each other.

"Oh great" I moaned

He looked surprised "You don't like snow"

My mind flew back to the last time I had seen snow, when Anastasia's old friend Silvia – a weather witch – had became her worst enemy and tried to suffocate both of us in snow, not pleasant.

"No" I said not telling him why.

He seemed about to ask me a question when a big, squishy ball of dripping snow smacked into the back of his head. For a second a flash of Sylvia wild eyed and furious flew into my head and I jumped about two meters away from Mike.

Mike, who clearly had more sanity than me, began to make a snowball to aim at the much more likely culprit Eric.

With snowballs also came the image of fireballs and when Anastasia had attempted to use magical fire power to set off fifteen firework rockets at home all at once. This had ended very badly.

I told him I'd see him at lunch, I couldn't stand here and keep fantasizing weather witches and unforgettable bonfire nights.

He just nodded eyes fixed on Eric's retreating figure.

I walked around with Jessica ready to defend myself from snowballs, she seemed to think this was funny but something in my expression must have told her not to throw one on me. I must have been carrying part of the expression Anastasia used most of the day here.

Mike caught up to us as we walked in the doors, laughing, with ice melting the spikes in his hair which looked very unusual. He and Jessica started talking about snowball fights and I tuned out. I glanced towards the table in the corner purely out of habit and froze where I stood. There were five people at the table.

Jessica pulled on my arm, I barely noticed.

"Hello? Bella? What do you want?"

To be as far away from here as possible I thought staring at them. I looked down before they could see what I was staring at, my ears were hot, my mind was screaming. I scanned the room and saw Scorpius and Anastasia sitting together. Scorpius had his back to me and I glared at Anastasia. She didn't react guiltily though. Zarbien would have spotted him straight away, she must have known for hours.

I told myself furiously that he still wouldn't attack me, I was being paranoid, Anastasia and Scorpius, a witch and a warlock, were in the room and I was still attempting to prove I was not anti-mythical.

"What's with Bella?" Mike asked Jessica

"Nothing" I answered a little too quickly "I'll just get a soda today"

"Aren't you hungry?" Jessica asked

My mind was on vampires draining my blood and ripping me in half. My stomach turned over.

"Actually I feel a little sick" I said, underestimate. I turned to them "I think I might just sit with my sister today you don't mind do you?"

They looked at me then my sister

"That's fine" Mike said but I could hear some disappointment in his voice.

I went to Anastasia's table sitting next to Scorpius.

"So, he's back" I said

"Yes, he is" said Anastasia blankly and I instantly knew I was being tested. How would I react? Would I run to the nurse and pretend to be ill or would I handle it face to face? Would I choose the brown pickled onions or – _stop_ thinking about pickled onions you lunatic!

I just sat there, sipping my soda. While I was near them I was safe, I was fairly sure. I didn't know much, in fact I didn't know anything, about vampires but I almost always felt safe around my sister.

I glanced at the Cullens, if he was glaring at me with undead hatred; I would skip Biology and prove Anastasia's coward theory right.

I kept my head down and glanced up under my lashes. None of them were looking this way. I lifted my head a little.

They were laughing. Edward, Jasper, and Emmett all had their hair entirely saturated with melting snow. Alice and Rosalie, I was pretty sure I knew which one was which, were leaning away as Emmett shook his dripping hair towards them like a dog. I conjured up an image of a dog and instead came a werewolf. I have problems man.

They were enjoying the snowy day but there was something a little different about them. I studied Edward the closest. His skin was less pale – maybe flushed from the snow – the circles under his eyes were much less noticeable.

"Bella you're staring" said Anastasia not looking at me

I looked away but not before his eyes flicked to mine, he didn't look harsh or unfriendly just curious and in someway unsatisfied.

"So what's the verdict?" Anastasia asked and Scorpius smiled looking amused

I flushed and then said determinedly "I will go to Biology, I will sit next to him and I will survive"

"Alright, Zarbien will watch over you" she said smiling. She said it in a way that _should_ mean Zarbien will look after you in case the vampire tries anything, but I knew what she really meant was Zarbien will be watching to see if you back out.

Now I had no way of escaping at least with my dignity intact. I would have to face the vampire. My stomach did a flip at the thought. I stayed with Anastasia and Scorpius as long as I could and would have followed them for the rest of lunch if they hadn't made it clear they did not want me tagging along. When they were gone I joined onto large crowds. I was surely not in danger if I was surrounded by this many people.

Everyone moaned when they saw the snow being washed away but I just pulled my hood up leased the snow was gone trying to not attract attention to myself.

Once inside the classroom, I saw to my relief that my table was still empty. If it wasn't I may have actually not gone any further into the classroom. Mr Branner was walking around the room, distributing one microscope and box of slides to each table. Class didn't start for a few minutes, the room buzzed with conversation, I kept my eyes away from the door constantly glancing at the window where Zarbien was sitting.

His look said _you'll never make it _

I started doodling in my notebook pressing the pencil apparently harder than I intended. I started writing a symbol I knew Zarbien would understand, a swear word for witches/warlocks, one of the three symbols I knew. Anastasia had used this one enough.

I heard very clearly when the chair next to me moved, but my eyes stayed focused on my symbol. I ripped the edge of the sheet and held it so Edward couldn't see.

"Hello" said a quiet musical voice.

I looked up stunned that he was speaking to me. This was going to make things a lot harder. He was sitting as far away from the desk as could be allowed as if I had some kind of highly contagious disease.

He still looked beautiful despite being soaked and his hair being dishevelled, he looked kind of like a hair gel advert. Anastasia said humans who did hair adverts all have brain damage from waving their heads around and around on screen.

His face was friendly, open, a slight smile on his lips. His eyes however were careful and I wondered if there was cunningness in there too. I wish I knew what he was thinking.

"My name is Edward Cullen" he continued "I didn't have a chance to introduce myself last week. You must be Bella Swan"

My mind was spinning with confusion. He seemed perfectly polite. The words _told you so_ rang from Anastasia's mouth into my ears even though such a cheesy line would never come from her.

"H-How do you know my name?" I said wildly unable to think of anything else to say.

He laughed a soft enchanting laugh. This didn't affect my guard.

"Oh I think everyone knows your name, the whole towns been waiting for you to arrive"

I grimaced, so he knew, that meant his family and any number of vampires and other monsters knew I was here.

"But not my sister" I replied. The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them

"You have a sister?" he asked sounding surprised

Oh well too late to back out now.

"Yeah"

"Nobody's mentioned her, then or now" he said as if he knew what everyone had been saying even while he'd been gone.

"She's not related to Charlie" I explained "And she's not in this year"

He nodded and said more to himself than to me "Yeah, he thought he only had one daughter"

I frowned "She's my half sister; he...may not have mentioned...that she was moving here with me"

"Oh" He let it drop. I looked away awkwardly.

Thankfully Mr Branner started the class at that moment. I tried to concentrate as he explained what we were doing today but my mind was still on the vampire. Unfortunately we had to work together to put some slides in order.

"Get started" he commanded

"Ladies first, partner?" Edward asked smiling a strange smile that I probably would have deemed beautiful had I not had knowledge in this area, now it just seemed weird.

"Or I could start, if you wish" he said and I realise I'd been staring again. The smile had faded, he was possibly having the same thoughts towards me as the woman in the twenty-four hour shop.

"No" I said flushing not wanting to show weakness "I'll go ahead"

This way I could prove to him I was intelligent for I had already done this class already and unlike Anastasia I was good at it. I adjusted the microscope and had identified it "Prophase" I said confidently

"Do you mind if I take a look?" he asked as I began to move the slide. His hand caught mine, to stop me, as he asked. His fingers were ice-cold, like the zombie Anastasia had once accidently conjured up and the ghosts I'd seen at eleven whose touch your hand could float through. His ice-cold touch was in every way like a vampire's. But that wasn't the only reason I jerked my hand away so quickly. When he touched me it stung my hand as if an electric current had passed through us. I'd never met a creature who could do _that_.

"I'm sorry" he muttered putting my hand back immediately. However, he continued to reach for the microscope.

I on the other hand was concentrating on not shaking. I looked towards Zarbien whose head tilted to one side and I wished I was telepathic like Anastasia; Zarbien had always been a mystery I would never understand.

"Prophase" he agreed and wrote it down. He switched it and looked at it through the microscope.

"Anaphase" he murmured writing as he spoke

I felt a fire of indignation. I'd been in dangerous situations before and I had to admit I'd been absolutely useless in pretty much useless in all of them. Science was the one thing I was proud to say I was damn near excellent at, the one thing I needed no help on and he better know it vampire or not.

"May I?" I asked trying to keep my voice indifferent

He just smirked, not nastily in particular, but once again the evil vampire image flashed in my mind again.

I looked through the eyepiece again, only to be disappointed. Dang, he was right.

He handed it to me making sure to not touch my skin again. I took the most fleeting look I could manage.

"Interphase" I passed him the microscope before he could even ask for it, I tried to tell myself it was because I wanted to keep in control but really I was just scared the image playing over and over again and never losing any meaning.

We were finished before anyone else was even close. I saw other people struggling and a couple of kids cheating with a book. That was the sort of thing my sister would do.

This left me little to do but try not to look back at him...I looked at Zarbien against the window, he was rubbing his back against it curling his tail upwards and to the left. Over all the years with one of the very few things I'd learnt about him was that that was one of his taunts.

I held up the torn symbol and held it towards the window. Zarbien turned his back to the window getting the message.

My eyes flicked back to Edward who was looking at me holding up the piece of paper with a look of puzzlement on his face. I suppose I must look a bit of a prat showing a symbol he probably didn't understand to a cat.

Suddenly I noticed a subtle difference in his face. His eyes were gold, darker than butter scotch, not flat black as they had been last time I had seen him.

I wasn't particularly surprised, over a full quarter of the known supernatural world had changeable eye colour, why not vampires? I didn't draw attention to the fact that I had noticed.

"So, Edward, didn't you think Isabella should get a chance with a microscope?" Mr. Branner asked

"Bella," Edward corrected automatically "Actually she identified three of the five"

Yes I did I thought fighting a smile. An expression I hadn't expected to use in this lesson. Mr. Branner looked at me; expression sceptical.

"Have you done this lab before?" he asked

I smiled sheepishly "Not with onion root"

"Whitefish blastula?"

"Yes"

Mr. Branner nodded. "Were you in an advanced placement program in phoenix?"

"Yes" I now felt guilty at being proud it was a sin after all. But hey, I wasn't religious. How could I be with a family like mine?

"Well," he said after a moment, "I guess it's a good you two are lab partners" He mumbled something and walked away. After he left I started to doodle a picture of Zarbien. He was a good character to draw.

"It's too bad about the snow, isn't it?" Edward asked. I had the feeling he was trying to make small talk. Didn't he get I didn't want to talk to him, didn't he get I was scared. Paranoia swept over me again. He would not attack me in a classroom, for God's sake.

"Not really" I replied trying to imply I didn't want to talk

"You don't like the cold." It wasn't a question

"Or the wet"

"Forks must be a difficult place for you to live" he mused

"You have no idea" I muttered not thinking so much about the weather.

He looked fascinated by what I said, for some reason I couldn't imagine. His face still gave me the creeps and I looked at it just long enough to not seem obviously rude. Then went back to my picture of Zarbien.

"Why did you come here, then?"

No-one had asked me that – not straight like that, demanding. I didn't like it.

"It's...complicated"

"I think I can keep up" he said and I felt stuck in a corner. Then I made the mistake of catching his golden gaze. His dark gold eyes confused my already paranoid brain and I answered without thinking.

"My mother got remarried" I said

That and Anastasia had blown up a set of buildings and a poltergeist had taken control of the house attracted by Anastasia's magic.

"That doesn't sound so complex" he disagreed but seemed sympathetic

Huh, I thought. Try dodging as literally all your possessions catapult against the walls and the ceilings nearly knocking your head off. Try putting up with that and not attracting attention. I still feel guilty for the people who moved in next.

"When did it happen?" My voice sounded sad

"Last September" my voice sounded sad even to me

"And you don't like him?" Edward surmised

"I think Phil's fine. Too young perhaps but fine. It's Anastasia who doesn't like him. Although she doesn't really like anyone who makes a move on our mom" I explained

I remember the trials Anastasia had put him through to see if he was worthy. I was sure if I hadn't been there to stop her some of her extreme plans he'd be very dead. She had been bitterly disappointed every time he'd succeeded. When he proposed and mom accepted the power went down for a mile in every direction of phoenix she was so angry.

"So has your sister got a thing against guys who date in your family?" he asked

"You could say that" I said meekly

"Is that why you didn't stay with them?"

"Partly, Phil travels a lot. He plays ball for a living" I half-smiled remembering when Anastasia had took advantage of this fact and worked it into one of her challenges, humiliation in front of a whole stadium. I had to part them before things got too nasty

"Have I heard of him?" he asked actually smiling in response

"Probably not. He doesn't play _well_. Strictly minor league" what do you know some of Anastasia's criticism had rubbed off on me

"I see. So you mother sent you here so that she could travel with him" he said it as an assumption again not a question. I felt indignation at him judging my family. Pray he never meets Anastasia.

I raised my head "She didn't send us, we sent ourselves"

His eyebrows knitted together and I felt a tingle up my spine, had I been feeding the fire. I had almost forgotten he was a vampire.

"I don't understand" he said seeming annoyed at the fact

Well I suppose he would think he was all knowing. Supernatural being generally had higher intelligence than humans, at least that's what Anastasia said when she was in a bad mood or bored or just any mood to tell you the truth.

I decided to shut up before I said anything rash and ended up getting my throat ripped out. He continued to stare at me with curiosity, either that or he was contemplating a new way to kill me. My eyes flicked to Zarbien who was sitting down on the window ledge looking bored.

"She stayed with us at first" I said not wanting Zarbien to tell Anastasia I was cowarding out when I was actually doing much better than anticipated "But she missed him. It made her unhappy...so I-we-decided it was time to spend some quality time with Charlie" I said lamely

Really we just had to get Renee away from the poltergeist before she finally clicked. Anastasia certainly didn't want to spend time with Charlie.

"But now you're unhappy" he pointed out

"And?" I said for the first time not feeling scared

"That doesn't seem fair" he shrugged but his intense eyes sent me back a notch on the bravery level.

"Hasn't anyone told you life isn't fair" I said thinking over my twisted life centred around my sister

"I believe I _have_ heard that somewhere before" he agreed dryly

Yeah well you would know being supernatural I thought feeling rather stupid.

"So that's all" I said firmly wanting to end the conversation feeling I'd already said too much

His gaze became appraising "You put on a good show" he said slowly "But I'd willing to bet that you're suffering more than you let anyone see"

I grimaced. I had been suffering recently because I'd been scared of _him_. I'd been suffering because I'd fought with my sister because of _him_. It was all _his_ fault.

"Am I wrong?"

No, I thought but didn't answer.

"I didn't think so" he murmured smugly

"What does it matter to you?" I asked irritated. Did suffering people's blood taste nicer or something?

"That's a good question" he said more to himself than to me. It seemed that was the only answer I was going to get and so just sat back and scowled at Zarbien out the window tempted to hold up my symbol again.

"Am I annoying you?" he asked. He sounded amused.

Yes I thought but didn't want to say that in case he decided to kill me for being rude. I supposed though with Zarbien around I was safe but I was just too much of a coward.

"Not exactly. I'm more annoyed with myself my sister always says my face is as easy read to read as an open book" That and many other things

"On the contrary I find you very difficult to read" he replied

I raised my eyebrows. He must be pretty dim for a vampire.

He then smiled revealing inhumanely white teeth. No, I thought determinedly, you are too close to run now. Stay put!

Mr Branner called the class to attention and I sat straight and couldn't help glancing at Zarbien feeling proud of myself. I knew this was really nothing to be proud of, Anastasia would have done it without a second thought, but for me it was a great achievement. I didn't even feel guilty about practically telling him the human side my life which really was just a small portion.

As Mr. Branner did his thing with the overhead projector I noticed Edward was still leaning away from me like last Monday as if I was a time bomb. At least he didn't look angry or disgusted.

When the bell finally rang he rushed to my relief out the classroom with that same unnatural gracefulness.

Mike skipped up to me and began talking about how hard the exercise was, I didn't find it hard in the least and my mind was on other things.


	11. A Bit of Research

**As asked before any opinions on new perspectives? **

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer except Anastasia and Scorpius**

**Apov**

I was leaning against some trees chatting to Scorpius. I'd been spending a lot more time with Scorpius than anyone else. At my old school I'd had a few friends, all supernatural, here I guess I was just focused around one. We'd skived off the last few lessons, school would end in half an hour.

Then Zarbien appeared, I'd wondered where he'd been, he was supposed to meet me right after Bella's class.

My attention instantly switched to Zarbien and his news.

_Well? _

_She did it, didn't run, even talked to him _

_Really?_ I thought amused

Bella could be really stupid sometimes. She was still thinking of this as a contest. If it were a contest I would have won ages ago, now I just wanted her to think it was a contest so she would start to see the supernatural world in a better way.

It seemed it was working quite well.

I noticed Scorpius looking at me sideways. He of course couldn't understand Zarbien.

"Oh my sister stood up to the vampire" I explained "She was scared of him"

"I don't blame her" he replied

"What?" I asked surprised

He looked at me "Have you not looked up class two vampires?"

"Well...I meant to but I kind of forgot" I said truthfully

"They're not like other vampires, they're the real deal. It's really hard to kill one, I just stay out of their way. If I was human and one was after me I'd be worried"

I felt doubt an expression I didn't usually feel.

"I gotta go" I said and headed away

I didn't look back just reached the truck I got inside with Zarbien.

_What do you know about class two vampires?_ I asked Zarbien

_Only that they're the second most deadly type of vampire there is _he replied stating the obvious.

I sat there furiously thinking about it. Then I saw Bella up ahead. She climbed in.

"I faced the vampire today" she said smiling largely "How strong am I?"

"Yeah you're living the dream" I replied

She was over doing it. _One_ vampire c'mon. I could do that with my eyes shut. But then what Scorpius had said came into my head and I bit back the nasty comment on my tongue.

We drove home and she described the scene. She talked too much. I was surprised to hear that she told him about Mom and Phil, as always I felt angry at his name. I made a mental note the next time I saw him to give him another test, he just didn't seem worthy of mom. No human was in my books.

We got home and she went off doing science homework. I delved into my books on magical creatures. There was whole section about them in my red one. They were all very old books the paper inside was yellow with age.

I lay back on the sofa holding the book above my head. Vampires, vampires, vampires. There were so many kinds, I remembered briefly meeting some at a party I went to, Bella wasn't there. Me and Zeke and a few of his friends pulled a prank on them involving holy water and they blamed it on the werewolves naturally. We had to leg it fast.

But they were only class twelve, I was looking for class two. After ten minutes I found it. Vampires class two...

I read and read and then sat up holding the book and closed it in my hands

"Bloody hell..."

**Bpov**

Anastasia burst into my room and I ended up doing an untidy line through my work spoiling my science graph.

"Bella" she said

"Yeah" I was surprised she looked...not herself

"Did you say that vampire looked angry at you?"

I nodded remembering the first time he looked at me

"Well I just looked him up and apparently his kind of vampire are...more than I anticipated, did he seem angry at you because he's actually tougher than he looks"

I raised my eyebrows.

"Who are you and what have you done with my sister?" I asked

She gave me an impatient frown "Just tell me did he look like he would seriously attack you because well...and it scars me to say this, I underestimated him"

I blinked "First it looked like he might attack me but not anymore, he seemed....alright. Now are you a shape shifter because there is no way in hell my sister would admit she was wrong about something like this"

"I would if I thought you could be in serious danger" she replied coldly

I had waited years for her to say something like that. I smiled at this and she scowled.

"I don't think he's going to hurt me...but I'll tell you if he shows any signs" I said

She practically vanished she left so fast. I felt a bubble of pleasure grow inside me. Anastasia my sister had admitted she was wrong. I could sing. She never took back her opinion on people's character even though I knew she was usually wrong like with Charlie and Phil and most humans. The only person I'd ever seen her change for was Zeke.

I redid my graph feeling _good_.

**Apov**

I didn't feel good.

I should have looked up those vampires earlier. They had super speed, super strength, near impenetrable skin, and very sharp teeth. They were...well they were practically like Zarbien.

They could rip my sister to part in seconds and I think the reason of instinctive hatred may have been her scent.

At least he couldn't get inside her head. I'd put a shield around her mind years ago. He couldn't get in no matter what he tried, well except if he knew a powerful witch or warlock who'd take the time to take it off. Luckily type two vampires had the disadvantage of knowing nothing about the real supernatural world, they like humans who didn't already know couldn't see through the glamour and shields.

Nevertheless I didn't feel good. I'd never really felt like I was responsible for my sister. She was older than me after all. But I had nearly killed her forty-seven times with badly cast spells and lost count of the amount of the times I'd put her in a dangerous magical situations including other species.

Anyway I felt responsible now. I felt as if my sister was actually in active danger and I should try and keep her away from the supernatural. That was a feeling I'd never had before. I usually found amusement in throwing her in with non-humans and seeing her ever ridiculous reactions but this was different.

I stayed up ages in bed pondering it. I couldn't get to sleep and it wasn't because of Bella's hopeless parent's ridiculously uncomfortable couch. I talked to Zarbien about it but Zarbien was my other half so although he understood he wasn't good at offering a totally other refreshing opinion.

It was hours till sleep finally came.

I woke up in the morning and was actually up before Bella, or at least before she came downstairs. A strange occurrence. I glanced outside and saw a layer of snow covering everything. This was going to be amusing. Bella fell over enough as it was I could only imagine what she was like on ice.

Bella's father was gone thankfully. If he had stayed any longer I may have a cast some nasty spells on him. I had done before, but kept them hidden so Bella wouldn't know.

Bella actually seemed in a good mood though, despite the snow. She cheerfully made cereal and orange for herself. Another strange occurrence. Me and Zarbien walked to the car with relative ease however when Bella attempted it you would have thought she was on a balancing beam or stilts the way she was acting. She finally did lose her concentration and fall when she reached the truck. She just managed to grab the wing mirror and saved herself then glared at me. I smiled, I could saved her fast enough but it was just too amusing watching her on ice.

We drove to school Bella seemed to be trying to distract herself from something, about what I did not know or care.

"The cars running good on snow" she noted

"Your father put on snow chains on it" I said matter-of-factly

"Really?" said Bella sounding surprised and happy.

I suppose she wasn't used to be taken care of by anyone. Well except me from the evil kinds of supernatural. We got out of the car. Bella went to look at the tyres as if she hadn't believed me. I looked over at her. She looked very emotional. Typical. Come on they were just tyres.

She bent down to get a better look and I felt a prickling in my neck. Something bad was going to happen, _very_ soon. I looked up and saw a boy in a dark blue van struggling as his vehicle swerved violently. Losing control, skidding towards the car where Bella was in the middle.


	12. Hospital

**Anymore pov offers are welcome **

**Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Scorpius **

**Bpov **

I heard a high pitched screech. I spun round startled and saw several things simultaneously. Nothing was moving slow motion like they did in movies, that doesn't happen in truly dangerous situations, you'd know if you'd lived with my sister. The adrenaline rush can do strange things, it can make you freeze which is my classical reaction or – and this happens more to Anastasia than to me – it can make your brain work much faster, absorbing every detail, this was one of those times.

The first thing I saw was Edward Cullen he was standing four cars down from me, staring at me in horror. He stood out from the sea of faces, all frozen in the same mask of shock.

The second was the dark blue van skidding, tires locked and squealing against the brakes, spinning wildly across the ice of the parking lot. It was going to hit the back corner of my truck, and I was standing between them. I didn't even have time to close my eyes.

Then two things happened at once. When I look back I should have known one was going to happen but the other was totally unexpected.

"_Tora!_" said a voice from behind me

The van stopped about three feet away as if it had hit an invisible wall. I didn't have time to take a sigh of relief for at that same time something hit me, hard. My head cracked against the icy blacktop, I felt something solid and cold pinning me to the ground.

I was lying next to the car I'd been parked to, I looked up and with a thrill of fear saw Edward Cullen leaning over me.

"_Hey!_" shouted Anastasia and Edward was thrown off me by an invisible shockwave landing in a heap five feet in the opposite direction.

It was absolutely silent before the screaming began. In abrupt bedlam, I could hear more than one person shouting my name. But more clearly than all the yelling, I could my sister's frantic voice in my ear.

"Bella? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine" My voice sounded strange. I sat up and we both stared at Edward Cullen who was sitting up looking very confused.

"C'mon" she said pulling me up standing between me and Edward protectively.

My head hurt the second I got up, a throbbing ache above my left ear and I gripped my sister's shoulder. I looked at Edward who was on his feet staring at both of us and the car his amber eyes full of questions.

"Thanks" I said to Anastasia under my breath

"No problem" she replied not taking her eyes off Edward

Zarbien was standing between them back arched no doubt fighting not to become a lion.

There were people everywhere, shouting at us, my head was spinning.

"Don't move" someone ordered

"Get Tyler out of the van!" someone else yelled

There was a flurry of activity as Anastasia pulled me far as was possible from Edward

Then I heard sirens. It took six ETMs and two teachers – Mr. Varner and Coach Clapp – to shift the van far away for them to bring stretchers. Anastasia refused to get on one, and I tried to do the same, but the traitor told them I'd hit my head and probably had a concussion. I glared at her when they weren't looking and she gave me a smile obviously pleased we were getting out of school. I almost died of humiliation when they put on a neck brace in front of the whole school and my sister who looked like she was trying not to laugh at the brace.

Then things got worse as Charlie appeared "Bella!" he yelled in panic when he recognised me on the stretcher

"I'm fine Char – Dad" I sighed but he was thoroughly fretful making a right performance.

"I'm fine too by the way" said Anastasia coldly

Only once we were in the ambulance did we realise that Edward Cullen had gotten in the front. He must have slipped in while Anastasia was arguing with the ambulance man about Zarbien being allowed in the ambulance – she won this argument.

She did not look happy he was riding with us. I wasn't happy. Why had he jumped at me and pinned me to the floor? The obvious answer was to bite me but why do that in front of that many eye witnesses? The other answer was that he had been trying to save me but why would he do that either? It didn't make sense.

So I sat there glaring at my sister blaming her one hundred percent for this ridiculous trip and yet I always found it harder to be angry at her after she'd saved my life.

**Apov**

I have never liked hospitals, human hospitals anyway, supernatural ones can be quite interesting, similar to the one described in the Harry Potter books but real. Human hospitals generally contained a lot of ghosts, humans who'd never been told about the supernatural world couldn't see them of course but I could and they just made me depressed.

Regardless I was just glad to be out of that mind meltingly boring school. They took Bella and whoever the boy with the van was away to a room wearing those ridiculous neck braces. Bella's nut job father who probably wouldn't have even noticed if _I'd_ been crushed went with them so I just went off to wander around the hospital. I turned the corners noticing people, dying people, ghosts and the usual hospital routines. Two ghosts walked straight through me and I shivered wondering how humans didn't notice the cold feeling. As I turned the corner I nearly walked into Scorpius.

"Hey" I said jumping back and took a breath "Ok Scorpius, I like your company but I'm a private person and don't like being followed, I would say sorry but I'm not and I've been seeing too much of you recently"

He nodded "That's Ok it's just been nice to finally meet a non-human, I bet at phoenix school there were lots. Imagine living at this school with no mystical life"

I thought about it and shuddered. Ok I could grant him that but I did not want to feel stalked, it was not a nice feeling and usually did not end well for the people stalking me.

"Alright but please I need space, alright?" I said getting the message through

"Yeah sure" he said

_That was rude_ said Zarbien

_It was not_ I thought back

_No, not you his familiar, he just swore at me_ Zarbien said indignantly and I looked down to see Zarbien face to face with a small black scorpion. Strangely familiars could speak to each other and clearly mine wasn't getting along with Scorpius's. Suddenly his name made more sense.

"Hey Scorpius" called a voice from down the corridor "Have you got all the stuff for tonight?"

We both looked and I saw a boy with greasy ginger hair looking down towards us

"Yes, I just got it" Scorpius called back and the boy scampered off

I looked back at Scorpius "So much for no magical friends" I said scathingly the ginger boy wasn't completely human I could tell that much

"I said none at the _school_" he said

Nice cover up

"But if you think I came to the hospital to see you then you must think a lot of yourself because I came here with my friends to get blood supplies for a prank we're pulling at a party we're going to" he said showing me a packet of blood inside his bag

"Oh right" I said, I didn't feel embarrassed easily

"Hey would you wanna come? Could always use an extra pair of hands, plus it's a supernatural party they're always fun" he said

I raised an eyebrow "Providing you're not looking at this as any kind of date then sure I'm in"

Supernatural party should be good.

**Author note: Scorpius is not like some kind of loser Mike type character he is a friend, at least for now **


	13. Edward's pov

**Author's note: I thought I'd give Edward' pov a go. Forgive me if I'm not good at getting inside guy's heads. **

**Thanks for all the reviews **

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Scorpius **

**Epov **

There's something weird going on with the new girls at school and I can't get my head round it.

First there's the fact that I can't get into either of their heads I try to tune in and zilch. Second there's Bella whose scent nearly made me kill a whole classroom of innocent students, seriously.

Third there's her strange sisters whose scent is...weird. Like if you've lived your life on meats and then you finally smell a tropical fruit. Just weird.

Fourth, I just threw myself in front of a truck to save Bella – something my family wish I hadn't done – and I don't even know how to describe what happened. The truck stopped before I'd even made contact with it and when I pushed Bella out the way I was thrown away from her as if invisible people had grabbed me and swung me high in the air.

Now that was not normal, nothing about these girls is normal.

Regardless something had made me throw myself in front of that truck in broad daylight. Jasper and Rose had seemed all set to murder Bella, talk about over reaction. I can't see how two humans could cause so much trouble.

My family concluded that I should stay here to check people's thoughts and find out of anyone's suspicious. A few weeks ago I wouldn't have been too bothered for humans seem to be spectacularly unobservant but after meeting Bella my opinion had changed.

Alice had a lot of worrying visions, three stood out. One was of Bella dead, something that made my insides twist and writhe.

Another of me and her together and by together I mean together like a couple, in love, now that I really didn't see coming. The others had their own opinions towards this, Emmett found it hilarious, Alice was confident (although she was always confident) and Esme was naturally thrilled. Typical.

The third was the strangest when I looked into her head I was just as confused as her, I could see the silhouette of a girl surround in giant dark blue flames and the tall dark figure at the back of the vision. What the hell was that supposed to mean? The vision was barely two seconds long and made no sense. I had no idea who these people were or where on earth they were doing surrounded in flames. My head hurts constantly at just trying to get grips of this situation.

School is now a living hell, I can't bear it, yet I have to say for the sake of my family. I had been having been saying those ten words in my head for the past few days, it's all that's been keeping me going.

Bella has been driving me crazy, her smell just seems to get nicer and nicer and for the first time in my life I feel have actual rivals. Rivals for Bella's attention. I didn't know about her sister, I didn't even know her name, I had at one point tried to read her mind from a distance but it had been just as silent as Bella's and for some reason gave me a headache afterwards as if when I had tried lock into her mind it had given off some poisonous toxin.

To my horror Alice's stupid prediction was coming true though. I found I couldn't stay away from her, my mind was constantly on her, it was killing me but I couldn't do anything about it.

It was after Biology that the last of my willpower kicked it.

"Bella?" I said without control

Her eyes flicked to mine then rather surprisingly to the window where a cat was sitting.

"Yes" she said looking back at me.

"I'm sorry" I told her bluntly "I'm being very rude but its better this way, really"

"I don't know what you mean" she said

I swallowed "It's better if we're not friends"

She looked back at that cat. Don't look at the stupid cat look at me! Her face hardened, determined then looked back at me.

"It's too bad you didn't figure that out earlier" she said angrily "You could hae saved yourself all this regret"

"Regret? Regret for what?" I demanded

For not letting that stupid van squish me!" she snapped once again glancing at the window. We were the last ones in the class now.

I was suddenly very angry, seething. How dare she question my one good deed in all of this, that was the one thing I was proud of and she was throwing it back in my face. How could she think that? That stupid girl!

She swiftly moved to the window and yanked it open letting in both a gust of wind which blew her hair sending her scent to hit me full on in the face and the cat that had been sitting outside. It ran in onto the desk in front of her.

I frowned at her but she was avoiding my gaze. I reached out a hand towards the cat and it hissed ferociously. I drew my hand back sharpish but wasn't particularly surprised, animals generally didn't like me, me or any vampires. But this cat was giving me a very strange look. As a vampire I have better sight and there was something strange in this cats eyes...a sort of savage intelligence that no animal should have...

I shook my head and gave up on the situation. I walked out leaving her with her cat. She was insane, maybe that's why I couldn't read her mind because there was nothing to read she was just an empty headed nutcase who liked creepy cats.

I don't know if that's a good way of being Edward. Too boring? I may stick to Bella and Anastasia unless there are objections.


	14. Spring Dance

**Disclaimer: ****None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Scorpius **

**Bpov**

I got into the my truck and sat at the wheel next to Anastasia. I sighed, no reaction. I had been hoping she'd asked what was wrong.

"I had a bad day" I sighed

"Yes" Anastasia said absentmindedly looking at her nails "Some idiot made the mistake of thinking he could lean on the truck"

"That was why he was limping and his words were slurred" I nodded. I had wondered if he was drunk when he'd been talking.

"Yeah, he should pass out pretty soon" she said emotionlessly

I glared in her direction but she didn't look at me. I wondered if we should go and check whether he was alright but I couldn't see him anymore and he could be anywhere by now, poor Eric.

I felt a surge of anger to add to the disastrous amount I had already built up today. Oh well, I wasn't in the mood to argue with her now. My only consolation was that Anastasia had been nowhere near neither Mike or Eric when they tried to ask me.

I decided to just get home and collapse. That was when I saw Tyler approaching the truck in the rear-view mirror. My blood went cold. Not good. He strode up and knocked on Anastasia's window. She turned and looked furious, she reached for the open latch on the truck door so quickly that when she opened it smacked him full in the face knocking him to the floor, she then shut the door and looked at me.

"So home?" she said

"Anastasia" I protested leaning over to see if he was alright.

"If you talk to him it will not end well" she said as I leaned over her and rolled down the window to see down "Mainly for him" she added

I sat back as he stood up clutching his nose which was bright red.

"Oh Bella" he said giving a brief glance to the sister who had just bust his nose

Please don't ask me, please don't ask me, please don't ask me, not in front of her...

"Will you ask me to the spring dance?" he asked voice muffled for his hand was over his nose, but not muffled enough so Anastasia couldn't hear his request.

Zarbien jumped into the front and Anastasia spoke in the old language. Suddenly Tyler clutched his throat choking.

"Anastasia" I yelled and she just smiled

I jumped out the car and ran to him as he fell to the floor gasping for breath face flushing red. Several others started to run towards us as Tyler went slowly purple eyes bulging in their sockets.

"Put him in the recovery position"

"Give him CPR"

"_Do something_!"

People yelled things in panic unsure what on earth to do as Tyler writhed. There was only one person who could stop what was happening to Tyler and she was sitting inside my truck without a care in the world. I stood up and looked at her furiously. She looked at me and sighed looking disappointed.

Suddenly Tyler took a huge breath arching upwards. I gave a gigantic inward sigh of relief. He would be OK. Tyler was not having a good month.

Someone had already called an ambulance and more and more people were coming to see what the problem was so I slipped away into the background where no-one could see me.

I got in the truck and drove like hell was chasing me away from the scene. When I was far away on an isolated path near the forest I stopped the car and turned.

"_ANASTASIA RAVENSON WHAT THE BLOODY HELL WAS THAT!_" I yelled at the top of my lungs

"That was a suffocation spell" she said blankly "I perfected it a few years back, it closes up the trachea like a tiny shielding spell that blocks off the air passing through"

"HOW DARE YOU DO THAT IN FRONT OF THE WHOLE SCHOOL. ARE YOU CRAZY?" I shouted

"You know Bella I am less than two feet away from you with hearing much further advanced than a human's I think we can safely conclude that you do not need to use such high a volume" was a all her reply was

If it were possible to die of anger I may well have dropped dead then and there. I yelled something else my voice rising a great number of octaves going very high pitch.

Anastasia frowned "Okay Bella only bats can hear you now"

I let out a few fuming breaths.

Anastasia rolled her eyes "I was just making sure that that weirdo got the message that you don't want to go out with him. You don't anyway so I guess I did you a favour"

"A favour" I hissed "You almost killed him!"

She shrugged "You say potato I say pot_a_to"

I stared at her. How could she be so...heartless, so empty. I clenched my teeth and turned back to the wheel. I drove and stopped outside the house and turned to her.

"You know what Anastasia" I said putting as much venom into my voice as possible

"What?" she said

"Sometimes Charlie's right about you"

With that I stormed back to the house


	15. Party Preparations

**I recognise that it has been a long time since I contributed anything, my apologies to any who like my story but I have been doing my GCSE's. Tomorrow I am flying to America so don't expect another update anytime soon. **

**Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Scorpius **

**Apov**

I walked into the house with Zarbien. Bella could really jump to conclusions when she wanted to, as if I would have killed that boy at school. I don't kill just to kill I was just having a little fun. Plus he was trying to get my sister I mean that's just asking for it but I wouldn't have killed him, killing him would have attracted too much attention.

Bella had stormed up her room slamming the door. I ignored her and went into the living room. I sat down on the sofa and pulled out my mobile. I dialled.

"Hello" a voice answered

"Hey Scorpius its Anastasia" I said

"Oh hi"

"I just wanted to check when this party is, you didn't tell me at the hospital" I said

"Didn't I?" he said sounding genuinely surprised "Oh it's tonight, we're meeting at the edge of Hallow forest at the main gate at 8pm"

I frowned "Why are you meeting at a forest?"

"Duh, you do realise this a _supernatural_ party don't you?" he laughed

"Yes" I said indignantly. I wouldn't go if it were anything else.

"Well if you've ever been to a half decent supernatural party you'll know that you can get there through the tree-nymph network at certain locations" he said

I shut my eyes feeling stupid "Oh yeah, forgot about that, so eight o'clock, anything I need to bring?"

"Money? Magical currency" he said

"Of course" I said

"And...well unless you got some blood supplies or itching powder to aid our prank I don't think you need much else" he said

"Alright I'll see you there" I said and pressed the end call button.

I knew where Hallow forest was only because it had a history of magical activity. I wondered what the party would be like, I couldn't see it being as good as the ones back at Phoenix mainly because of the lack of supernatural creatures in the area but I suppose if we were going through the tree-nymph network then it was all chance.

My suitcase was regular size but had an enchantment I must congratulate myself on which made the inside bigger than the outside thereby letting me bring far more clothes than regular boring human space would allow. I had perfected the spell now but Bella still wouldn't let me enchant her bags, when I was first using the spell I had tried it on her wardrobe and blew it up nearly taking her with it. She hadn't trusted the spell since. Regardless I picked out some nice dark party-like clothes, I wasn't sure what kind of party this is but we were pulling pranks I decided I should go with more casual than formal. I spent a little longer making myself look nice than I usually would for a party but thought nothing of it.

I added some eyeliner and looked in the mirror and felt fine with my choice.

_Show off _said Zarbien in the back of my mind

_Just because you can't dress up doesn't mean I can't _I replied shutting my bag

There was a pause as Zarbien scrutinized me with his knowing eyes

_What? _I demanded. He, Bella, Renee and Zeke were the only people who could stare at me like that without getting a nasty hex put on them

_The only person you ever dress up fancy for is Zeke _he said questioningly _Why are you dressing up like this for this ordinary party?_

I stared at him_ I'm not _I said back

There is not much you can keep from your other half, it could sometimes become annoying. It had when I'd first met Zeke and couldn't stop thinking about him, it had drove Zarbien to distraction. Zarbien for the first time in a while tried to hide a thought from me there and then but wasn't quite quick enough, I saw a flash for about half a second of Scorpius and let out a hiss of anger.

Zarbien jumped behind the sofa as the mirror cracked loudly and the lights in the room went out.

"Don't-you-dare-think-that" I said feeling angry

_Alright sheesh just a thought _he replied

I simmered down, returned the lights and mirror to their original state then after a few minutes flopped back down on the sofa closely followed by Zarbien. My mind went back to the party.

I thought over what over what Scorpius said about extra blood supplies. Hmm blood. It would be almost rude to intrude on their get together without something to contribute. My eyes met Zarbien and I smiled

"CHARLES!"


	16. Plans for Seattle

**Disclaimer: ****None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Scorpius **

Bpov

I slammed the door furiously determined to be angry for the whole afternoon and the whole night. That stupid girl, that stupid, stupid girl.

She had cast some bizarre enchantment on Eric and would have killed Tyler today if I hadn't stopped her. Charlie was right, how _were_ we related? She had nothing of Renee in her. I stayed in my room pacing loudly, maybe Anastasia would hear and it would annoy her.

I had been planning to make chicken enchiladas for dinner but it was a long process and would keep me downstairs for quite some time near _her_ (also I found it hard to cook whilst I was angry). I refused to go downstairs and see her. I started to picture how she would have felt if what she did had rebounded on her instead of Tyler.

My angry thoughts were interrupted when my phone went off. I was almost too angry to answer it, but it might be Charlie or my mom.

It was Jessica jubilant, the opposite of me, this made me angry. How could she be so happy at a time like this? I soon found out, Mike had accepted her invitation to the Spring Dance. The same Spring dance that had caused my current anger, that had almost got Tyler killed! I gave her a few short celebratory sentences through gritted teeth then told her I had to go.

After I hung up I stayed in my room for a few hours being angry at some point during those hours I thought I heard a crash and a yell but my brain was far to busy analysing the events of the day. Mainly Anastasia and Tyler went through my head with furious thoughts but I found strangely now and then Edward Cullen the vampire floated in and out of my head. I wasn't surprised at this he'd been in my head a lot recently the thing that surprised me was that the feeling I felt when my mind drifted in his direction wasn't fear, it was...something else, something deeper...I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

I shrugged it off, I had made my decision earlier I was going to stay away from him, have minimal contact, it was just too dangerous.

When I finally came downstairs it was getting dark. I had only came downstairs because I was dying of thirst. I stormed past the living room not looking to see if she was there and I walked into the kitchen.

Charlie was leaning against the wall looking pale and dazed. I frowned at him

"Cha-dad what's wrong?" I asked

His eyes drifted my way and I helped him into a chair. This had Anastasia written all over it. I sighed and whipped him up something to eat. He seemed a little better afterwards the colour returning to his cheeks.

"What happened?" I asked

"I...can't remember" he said looking puzzled by his own words

I wasn't particularly surprised, memory spells on people who didn't know about the supernatural world were easy for witches as powerful as Anastasia. I had spent a good portion of my life trying to become as resistant as possible, not that Anastasia cast them on me as far as I knew.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked

"Nothing Char-dad I'm getting hay fever" I said

He gave me a look. Even he wasn't dumb enough to fall for that. I sighed

"I had a fight with Anastasia" I said

"Twice in one month, is that how it usually is?" he asked looking rather pleased at the prospect "I suppose it's kind instinctive. You're a nice, caring, sensitive girl and she's an evil, devious, creepy-"

"Dad please" I interrupted before he really got the ball rolling

He looked a little disappointed but shut up.

"I wanted to tell you that I'm going to Seattle for the day a week on Saturday...if that's okay?" I didn't really want to ask permission (I wondered if that was a quality I got from Anastasia) but it felt rude so I was polite (I definitely didn't get that from Anastasia).

"Why?" he said as if surprised Forks didn't have something to offer – maybe the spell had made him a tad disorientated.

"Well, I wanted to get a few books – the library here is pretty limited and-"

"This is you and Anastasia right?" he interrupted

I shook my head "Anastasia won't want to go on another plane"

Anastasia had her own ways of getting out of Forks, ways I wasn't going to tell him. At these words his face went as pale as had been when I'd walked in on him.

"But-but she'll want to see the city, she doesn't like it here" he said hurriedly

"Yeah but she hates planes" I shrugged apologetically

"You know Seattle is a big city, you'll get lost, maybe I should go with you" he said voice rising a few octaves

I stared at him for a moment almost in awe, he really was scared of Anastasia. Still I wasn't going to be followed around by my _dad_ throughout Seattle.

"Dad, Phoenix is five times the size of Seattle, it'll be really boring just dressing rooms and such and I think Anastasia's going out too with some friends"

The last bit was a lie but I had to get him off my back. He seemed relieved, at least a little.

"Will you – be back for the dance?"

Grrr. Only in a town this small would a father know when school dances were.

"No – I don't dance, Dad" Even after all my deathdefying adventures with Anastasia the balance problems I inherited from my mother always prevailed.

"Oh, that's right" he realised

I think he was pleased that he wouldn't be stuck alone with just Anastasia, he didn't even need to ask whether she was going to the dance.

I walked back once I was pretty sure he was alright, now I felt like yelling at Anastasia for hexing my father. It wasn't anything new but I needed to let out some anger. Though when I walked into the living though she was nowhere to be seen.


	17. No Entry

**I'm back, America is really cool the buildings are huge and the statue of liberty is great but its good to be home. **

**There was request for some more of Edwards pov so here's my attempt **

**Disclaimer:****None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Scorpius **

**Epov **

I walked in the house slamming my Volvo door.

"I still don't get why you didn't see it Alice" I said again

"I'm sorry but I'm not superwoman I don't see absolutely _everything_" retorted Alice but I could see into her mind and could see she was just as baffled as I was and almost as irritated

I knew I was just irritated because it was near the two girls, the Swan sisters.

"Why do you even care?" asked Rosalie checking her reflection in the shiny window. I must compliment myself on my Volvo's shine.

"I don't" I said and went into the house at vampire speed. I sat down on the sofa and shut my eyes. Edward what's wrong with you? You had officially vowed to stay away from the Bella and now you're tailing her?

The image of Tyler gagging on the ground was swimming through my head and it disturbed me. I imagined that had he asked her she would have said no and I would have felt great at that but she hadn't even answered she hadn't really got a chance. I still didn't think she'd say yes but what did I know?

No-one understood what had happened to Tyler, I'd seen inside his mind and he didn't understand himself and Alice hadn't seen it coming.

I sighed planning to take out my anger on some forest animals, I needed to feed now more than ever with Bella around.

After hunting I felt the need to see Bella, great I told myself you're being drawn to her like a vulture. I argued with myself and then just gave in, my less noble side taking over. I was going to see her tonight.

I left the house and headed towards Bella's deciding against telling my family where I was going, I couldn't see any good reaction coming from it.

I arrived at the house and looked up with my hands in my pockets.

I could go through the door and break the lock but I didn't really want to leave a broken lock behind me, maybe I could get in though one of the windows. I opened the gate to the front yard and stepped on the grass, that's when it happened.

I heard a voice in my head a quiet humming in my ear. I looked around, I had very good hearing as a vampire but couldn't see anyone. I took another step and the humming got louder almost like voices inside my head, I pressed on my ear trying to stop it. It wasn't like when I heard normal peoples thoughts, this was actually giving me a headache.

I prepared to run to scale the house for the best way in but as I took my next step my mind exploded with words. Most of the words were illegible like hundreds of people speaking at once but some stood out.

"_Where are you going?""You don't belong here""Leave""Don't try anything""My sister""Leave now" _

I clutched my head "Argh!" I yelled clutching my head which felt as if it were going it were going to explode

"_You can't hurt her""Keep your distance" "You don't belong here""Go back" "Don't come closer""LEAVE NOW!" _

I didn't need telling anymore and stumbled back falling through the gate landing flat on my back on the road with my head still in my hands. I lay there for a second then sat up looking at the house. What the hell was that?

I stood up, that was weird, that was _so_ weird. I thought about going forward again but my desperation to see Bella had faded now all I felt was an urge to get away from here. I turned away and headed down the street sparing one last look at the house. I turned my head away, when I was near the end of the street one clear sentence spoke inside my brain.

"_Don't come back" _


	18. TreeNymph Network

**Apov**

It was going eight when I arrived at the right forest. I had to use my powers to find it because although I knew the forest I didn't know exactly where it was. Anyway after some brief searching I saw Scorpius and a few others hanging around a gate on a pathway. I jumped off Zarbien and headed towards them.

They turned as I approached and I saw Scorpius hold up a hand to tell them who I was. I looked at them there was Scorpius, two other boys and one very pretty girl. They looked around my age maybe a little older. The two other boys with one eagle hovering over their heads, the girl didn't have a familiar as far as I could see but I could sense magic coming from her.

Scorpius came forward with his familiar which was still a black Scorpion but was now the size of a long dog. I heard Zarbien growl behind me.

Play nice I told him and he growled again in my direction.

Scorpion looked at his familiar obviously going through the same thing. Then he looked back at her

"Glad you could make it" he said

I looked him up and down, he looked good, he was wearing a long dark coat-cloak thing which looked good against his pale skin. It wasn't the kind of cloak you see in _Harry Potter_ books, not many magical being wear those anymore, they're too old fashioned. Scorpius's was patterned with silver symbols along the very edge in the old language but I didn't bother to read what they said.

The other two boys looked party-dressed too and the girl was stunning in a very long shiny dress which shed sparkles, above the materials there was a thin dark net which you could just see. It looked although she had trapped pure white light beneath it, who knows maybe she had, I wasn't up to date with the new fashions.

I felt glad I'd dressed up considering how fancy the rest of them looked. This looked like it might be a good party, I hadn't bothered to tell Bella where I was going she was still mad at me, drama queen, so I'd put a spell over the house just in case and left. She probably wouldn't even notice I was gone.

"This is Otto" he said indicating both the boys "They're one single entity split in two"

Well that explained why there was only one familiar.

"And this is the lovely Dalila" he said indicating the shining girl

The girl held out a hand, she had honey coloured skin, sleek dark hair with distinct red stripes. Not knowing her species they could be natural. She also had a wonderful smile. I felt strange thinking that, I never really thought people had any good kind of smiles, too many smiles make me feel nauseous.

I shook her hand

"Lovely to meet you" she said in a smooth voice. I wondered if she was a white witch.

"Hey" said Otto both boys speaking in perfect unison

"Hey" I replied not sure which one to look at so instead looked at Scorpius "I um brought some blood supplies"

"Oh great" he said taking it "Just put them in my back we'll use them later"

Then he rubbed his hands together "Right well now we're all here let's not wait for the grass to grow this way"

We walked down the path until we came up to the trees Scorpius went knocked a few of them with his hands then nodded at a large knobbly one.

"This is it" he said

He pulled out a piece of paper, no doubt and invite and pressed it against the tree, the invite lit up and then vanished top to bottom as if it had been burnt.

"Follow me" he said and faced us then shut his eyes and stepped backwards _into_ the tree. His body went brown and wooden and then he disappeared altogether melding into the tree, there was no sign of him except a slight marking on the tree, his scorpion vanished too.

Dalila was next, she had been holding her dress above the grass but went forward and through the tree, once she was gone the glade became remarkably darker. Her image was slightly caught on the tree too, the bark was slightly lighter where she had disappeared. If you ever go into a forest and find a large tree which has markings in its bark which almost resemble a body there's a good chance its part of the tree nymph network.

I looked at Otto

"Lady's first" he said and a hand from each body went towards the tree indicating for me to go

I stepped forward and turned looking at Otto and Zarbien

"See you on the other side" I said then stepped backwards into the tree nymph network


	19. Party Time

**Please review**

**Apov **

It was a strange feeling going through the Tree nymph network, you can't move anything or feel anything it's literally as if you're made of wood which technically briefly you are, you go all hard and still your emotions all dialling down. Then you're pushed forward and appear somewhere different body feeling rather flimsy from going from being hard wood to flimsy skin.

I shook my head blinking steadying myself hand on Zarbien's back who was shaking his head as if he were wet. I much preferred portals to the tree-nymph network.

Before me were Scorpius and Dalila, Dalila was straightening her sunlight dress when I appeared whilst Scorpius came forward and grabbed my hand

"Make room for Otto" he said pulling me forward

Soon Otto arrived in his two figures. I turned and saw a golden shimmering building, it had tall walls and had silver writing on the front confirming we were in the right place. We all walked in and found ourselves surrounded by people of all species.

Alighting up the room were hundreds of hollow dragon eggs of varying sizes and colours all fitted with candles inside. They levitated in the air giving of great multicoloured glow. As well as that tiny type sixteen fairies were fluttering about like glowing bugs.

The floor was made of golden stones which changed to a different colour when you stepped on them and then returned to gold when your feet left them.

I could hear music in the background, magical music played by magical beings which was always better than human music which was done by boring instruments.

I smiled at all the people, I could see witches, warlocks, elves, dwarves, imps, spites and many more magical creatures. I felt at home. People were dancing, talking, gambling, drinking, casting spells and doing other things to show off their power.

The sprites were serving snippits of food but you should never trust a sprite's food it's always risky. I knew Bella would think the sprites were cute since they were small with innocent faces and thin playful limbs. She didn't notice the cunning craftiness in their entirely black eyes.

"Alright" smiled Dalila looking around

Scorpius was frowning at something, no _someone_ in the crowd as if trying identify them.

"So are when are we pranking these vampires?" I asked speaking quietly in case any were listening in

Dalila laughed "We just got here. There's a good chance we'll have to leave after, let's do that in an hour or so, for now let's party!"

"I've just spotted someone I know, I'll be back later" he said and left in a flash

"Oh well" shrugged Dalila looking as confused as I felt "Follow me"

I followed her winding through serving imps and everyone else. We appeared at one of the numerous bars scattered around the bar.

"You're drinking already" I observed

"No, _we_ are drinking already" she corrected "You cannot appreciate a party unless you are a little tipsy. Let's get their best beverage"

"Probably can't afford it" I admitted. As far as magic drinks go prices can soar

"I'll pay" she shrugged

"_You_ can afford it?" I said surprised "How much money did you bring?"

"None" she said with a mischievous grin

What? I thought perplexed. When the bartender came Dalila waved her hand and he stood before her, she stared directly into his eyes

"We would like two of the absolute best safe drinks you have for witches here" she said slowly her eyes turning red as she spoke "Free of charge"

He stood rooted to the spot eyes turning red slowly after hers then back again

"Yes miss" he said sounding asleep

He walked off

I looked sideways at her "You're an enchantress aren't you?"

She grinned "Guilty"

Enchantresses were rare these days. They weren't as good at ranged magic as witches and warlocks but they had very accurate visions of the future and their hypnosis abilities were off the scale. They could make you do anything they wanted, they could make you fall in love, betray your friends even kill yourself with no hesitation whatsoever. That's what made them so dangerous. It is never wise to get into a real relationship with an enchantress because if she ends up falling in love with you you'll never escape, try and break it off and she'll either force you to love her or make you kill yourself.

I wasn't too worried about this enchantress though, she was on my side, as far as I knew.

When our drinks came they were in golden goblets, the liquid within them changed colour as I looked at it.

"Lavon Everlasting Wine" he said still sounding dreamy

"Thank you" Dalila replied "Let's keep it between us that you gave us to them free okay?"

He paused for a second then said "Okay"

I took a sip of the liquid and instantly felt wonderful, I drained half the glass in a second. This probably wasn't the best drink but it was the best without any side effects and it tasted wonderful. I almost wished I was an enchantress, she must live in luxury.

"I love this kind of wine" she said "My father is a big fan of drink testing, he's not some alcoholic his job is a wine salesman to magical communities"

"I see" I said, he still sounded like a drunk to me. I took another giant swig relishing the taste.

"So how do you know Scorpius?" she asked demurely taking a sip

"Oh" I replied reluctantly stopping drinking "We go to school together"

"Oh really, he was always moaning about the lack of supernatural?" she asked

"I'm new" I said not telling her that if I wasn't she would have offended me without thinking about it.

She seemed oblivious to this "I would die without any other supernatural contact. I don't know why Scorpius puts up with it"

"Why does he put with it?" I asked "I mean I'm only there because of my sister but why would he choose to live in hell? Is it something to do with his parents?"

Dalila shook her head "No his parents are dead, or at least he's never mentioned them or lived with them so I'm assuming they're dead. His brother sent him to Forks a few years back"

"Why?" I asked

Dalila paused to think about it "I don't know" she admitted

"Hmm" I said taking another drink

"Oh well at least you came. A witch and a warlock, are you two together you'd make a nice couple I think he needs to get out more"

I spluttered up some of my wine "What no we're not together not like that we're just friends, I already have a boyfriend"

"Oh right" she said looking into the crowd but couldn't spot Scorpius "Still he could do with a girlfriend"

She turned back to me

"Do not even think about hypnotising me" I said warily leaning back a little averting my eyes

She gave a tinkly laugh

"No it's alright, I learnt young that hypnotising friends never ends well" she said

I raised my eyebrows, she thought we were friends? She just assumed she was my friends list now. Enchantresses, I thought fighting the urge to roll my eyes, they think they know everything.


	20. Old Friends

**I went through the crowd pushing through, trying not to step on any sprites. **

**I reached a group of people who stared at me **

"**Hey" I said **

"**Who are you?" one asked **

"**Scorpius, I have an appointment with the red-headed prat" I said **

**A boy with messy bright orange looked over one's shoulder then pushed to the front, a great grin spreading across his face. **

"**Hey man" he said and gave me a hug clapping me on the back. **

**I often wished he wouldn't do this, mainly because he didn't know his own strength. **

"**Hey Will" I said to my best friend **

**Will's name wasn't short for William it was actually short for Willarmyosonos but that was a bit of a mouthful so everyone called him Will. He was tall with very pointy ears, part type six elf, part warlock. **

"**Hey what are you doing here?" Will asked **

"**Just came with a few friends, I haven't been to a party for a little while" I replied **

**Will raised an orange eyebrow **

"**OK a long while" I admitted "I don't need to ask what you're doing here" **

"**Never could resist a party" he shrugged **

**Will was the biggest party animal I knew, he was always the centre of attention which I wasn't and couldn't be even if I wanted to **

"**You'll have to excuse me" he said to his friends "Come on" **

**We left the crowd and sat down at the bar **

"**Two pints" he said to the bar girl who I expected was a fairy type 8-3 or nymph of some kind because she had hair made of grass and dark skin which appeared to be made out of wood. He offered her a coin which clearly wasn't the coin she'd asked for but with a scowl went off to get the drinks. **

"**What did you just a pint of?" I asked **

**At supernatural parties you don't drink ordinary human beer. It took more than that to make a warlock tipsy **

"**No idea" he said shaking his head "That's the fun of it" **

"**Well I trust you" I said hesitantly **

**Will shook his head "Don't say that, then I'll feel guilty if what I ordered gets us turned into frogs" **

**I laughed I had missed Will. **

"**So how are things back home?" I asked **

**I still thought of where I used to live as home, moving to Forks had been a disaster, it was so anti-magic I couldn't think of it as a home?" **

"**Not nearly as exiting without you" Will said "You were always the trigger of entertainment" **

"**No I think that was you Will, I was just the power" I said back **

**Being only half warlock Will's power did not exceed very high. My magic marvelled him, not such a surprise. With his attitude and my magic we were a danger hazard back home. **

"**Well you got a whole bunch of new friends" I said indicating the others. I recognised a couple from back home. Everyone back home wanted to be Will's friend, he, unlike me, was the height of popularity. **

"**Meh" Will shrugged "They're alright but they don't fully appreciate my jester-like charm" he said stroking his chin **

"**You haven't changed one bit" I said **

"**Hopefully neither have you" Will said back "I think I knew everyone you arrived with , and . Haven't made any new friends?" **

"**Ha what friends is there to make? Hold on wait I thought you didn't see me arriving?" I said **

"**I was going to surprise you but you found me first" Will said "Anyway I didn't recognise one of them whose that girl you arriving with the one with the lion familiar?" **

"**Oh she's Anastasia Ravenson" **

"**Oh, she a new girlfriend you were staring at her" Will said **

"**I was telling her when we were going to pull this prank on the vampires" I snapped "She's just a friend"**

"**A prank on vampires?" Will said attention now fixed **

"**Yeah class 10 your welcome to join" I said knowing how much Will loved to pull pranks. We were forever in trouble back home. **

"**I'm in. The girl joining in too" he said eyes narrowing one eyebrow raised **

"**Shut up" I said "Though I can not tell you how much of a relief it is to have someone magical to hang out with. At least now school is remotely bearable. All it has is five anti-social vampires who don't know about the supernatural world and this girl called Angela in the year above who doesn't even know she's part witch. Nightmare" **

"**But now your secret could be found out" Will said. There was a pause and then we both started laughing. **

"**Oh Will as if. I am a lot more careful than I was when we were kids" I replied smiling **

"**Really?" he asked giving me a look**

"**No" I admitted "Although the past few months I have been trying since soon I'm going to Darkhalls academy" **

"**I'll see you there" Will grinned **

**We shared a birthday and would go on the same day **

"**Here you go two pints" the fairy nymph woman said giving us two glasses of red blue liquid. I looked at it warily. **

**Will held his up **

"**To Darkhalls academy" **

**I copied and we both took a drink at the same time, I felt my brain crackling inside my mind and the top of my head tingling. I took a gasp and saw Will doing the same. Will looked at me and to the top of my head a smile spreading over his face, the one we used to share when we were kids and we were keeping a secret. **

**I touched my head just in case I had grown horns or something but just felt my hair nothing different. **

"**What?" I demanded **

"**Nothing" he said innocently shaking his head and taking another swig, I couldn't help doing the same it was a nice taste **

"**You're brother shouldn't have made you leave" Will said resurfacing**

"**He got scared" I said thinking that Will had been wanting to say that for a very long time **

**I remember when my brother dragged us away from my friends and into Forks in fear of our secret getting out. I was barely fourteen. It was alright for him he only had to endure half a year of Forks school, I practically died. Will and I hadn't seen much of each other since so it was always great to meet up. **

"**You can't let anything slip out at the academy either. Keep it zipped" I said firmly **

**Will pretended to zip up his lip **

"**No really you can't" I said a bit of dread creeping into my voice **

"**I've kept my mouth shut for five years I'm not going to blow it now" Will said reassuringly **

"**Good. When Kanan found out you knew, he was so angry" **

**I shuddered remembering just how angry my brother had been, it had been five years ago when me and Will were eleven. At the same time a tidal wave had struck somewhere in India, not particularly surprising. **

"**I wouldn't have told anyone" Will protested **

"**He didn't know that" I replied **

**The only reason my best friend was still alive, not dead at my brother's hand, was because of my fast talking. **

"**Well I'll hold you to that" I said **

**Will got up and turned to me "Why are we talking about this, it's a party come on!" He headed into the crowd**

**I grinned and followed **


	21. Alice's Investigation

**I feel I was sliding a little from the Bella and Edward point of the story. My apologies but I often get sucked into my own tales. **

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and others I make up**

**Epov**

I walked back into the house, or rather ran back at vampire speed. Once I heard that creepy voice again I legged it. I didn't know what it was but it frightened me. Yes, me, a deadly vampire, scared of a voice.

Had it been my imagination? Had I heard people far away talking or thinking those words? Or was it my subconscious, my sensible dignified side telling me that prying on a girl while she was asleep was very wrong, maybe that was it and it had just forced me to leave...maybe.

I decided not to think about it and walked down the hallway through my house looking for something to take my mind of it. My mind flicked through my families thoughts, they were probably used to having no privacy by now.

Rose was sorting herself out in front of a mirror concerned about her hair, I was used to that, I used to think someday she would get over herself but after the first couple of decades I gave up on that front.

I left her head bored and saw Emmet and Jasper were having a fight in the garden which Emmet was currently winning. I wondered why Esme hadn't broken up the fight, she hated their fights because they ruined her flowerbeds and many other creations. She would have made an amazing architect.

I flicked to her head just to find out why the fight was still in motion and then after a flash of pictures of her and Carlisle repelled out of her head feeling nauseated. My mind reading abilities could seriously vary to the point where sometimes it ended up like weird porn except with your fake parents. Emmet loved to annoy me this way. Instinctively I put my hand to my mouth disgusted even though of course as a vampire I didn't have anything to throw up, well except blood but that had never happened before.

Well that explained why the fight still going on I thought regaining myself. What about Alice? She often had interesting thoughts when she wasn't thinking about shopping.

"Back so soon?" I heard her say

I wondered where her train of thought was going

"Edward you dipstick I'm talking, turn around" her voice sharply

I spun round and nearly fell over in surprise as Alice stood before me dark hair sticking in all directions arms folded. She really did look like a pixie, which was the look she was going for and being so small she quite succeeded.

"Alice?" I said stupidly

"Where have you been?" she asked narrowing her eyes

"Nowhere" I replied

"Really?" she said unfolding her arms "Don't lie to me"

"I'm not lying" I lied

"You must bare in mind with this I am a clairvoyant vampire" she said

I gave in, I was never going to win this, her mind was enough to tell me she wasn't going to leave me alone until she found out what was going on.

"Take a guess" I said coldly

A range of thoughts flew through her head and in less than a second Bella was top of the list. She clapped her hands together grinning ear to ear her mind shouting 'Bella!'

"OK, OK, easy you got it, no need to deafen me woman" I said putting my hands to my ears as her that thought drummed through my head

"I knew it, I knew it" she sang jumping up and down like a real pixie

_Can I talk to her now? _

"No" I snapped

_Fine. Be stubborn. It's only a matter of time. Look at yourself, following her. _

"I did not see her if you must know I merely passed her house, if you had a vision you'd have seen that" I growled

"I didn't really see anything" she shrugged

"You didn't see...then why the investigation?" I queried

_Many reasons, Jasper was losing the fight; you had vanished; I want to know when I can talk to Bella; it's too late to go shopping in Forks and I'm a curious soul_ she smiled

"So no update on the freaky visions?" I said disappointed

"No, but its definitely edging towards the second vision which is _great_" she beamed "You might as well just give in to it"

"You're only saying this because you want a shopping partner" I said

She gave a smile "Not _only_, we will do many thins when she's my friend...mainly shopping"

"Great I'll keep that in mind" I said flatly

She gave me a flashing grin and vanished. She was utterly convinced I was going to cave in to Bella, to my feelings, I would prove her wrong.


	22. The Wonders of Wine

**Apov**

Dalila and I were still talking and after another glass of that Lavon Enchanted wine, we were as Dalila called it 'healthily' tipsy. Otto had disappeared a while ago.

_Why can't I have any of the fancy wine? _Zarbien asked sulkily

Because I don't know what effect it will have on you I replied

_Come on _he said pleadingly tilting his head and showing me the huge cat eyes which could plead with great success

No, I thought firmly not taking the bait, he didn't say if it was safe for familiars

Zarbien gave a growl

Then I turned and saw an elf with messy red hair appear before us, or at least I thought he was an elf the pointy ears kind of gave him away. Then Scorpius appeared and my jaw dropped.

"Scorpius" I exclaimed

"What?" he said looking surprised at my expression

"What did you do to your hair?" I asked staring

He grabbed the back of his ponytail and pulled it round to his face and then his eyes widened in horror. His hair was no longer white but bright orange.

"Holy crap" he yelped and spun round to the elf orange-haired boy who looked like he was trying not to laugh

"Will my hair!" he said furiously

"Well what do you know, we match" he said

"That drink turned my hair orange and you didn't tell me!" he demanded

"You're not the only one who suffered" Will as his name was said innocently "It turned my hair orange too"

Scorpius seethed "Your hair is always orange"

"Well you can always stick some of my super elf hair dye on your head. Works wonders, looks dead natural" Will said with a grin

Scorpius suggested where Will could stick his elf hair dye looking very frustrated. I didn't really blame him orange did not look good on him.

_Why isn't he blaming his familiar?_ Zarbien pointed out _He could have told him_

What have you got against his familiar? I said in reply

_There's just something about him..._Zarbien trailed off

"_Lepurio" _I said clearly pointing my hand at Scorpius's head

I felt the magic flow through my arm and out. Nothing happened to the colour of his hair.

"That was dramatic" said Will

I frowned and looked at my hand. Scorpius did the same spell and another which should have the same effect, still nothing happened.

"Let me see that wine" said Dalila

Will passed her the drink which he still had in his hand. She looked at it intently then smelled it and swirled it around.

"What kind of wine is this?" she asked

"Didn't ask" said Will "Don't know what it is"

I looked at Scorpius how could he be that dumb? Didn't he even check what side effects there would be? Stupid daredevil.

"I think I do" said Dalila "I think this is Hogdons wine or Hogdons broth, it is known to temporarily change hair colour to the more dominant part of your family"

"None of my family members have orange hair" Scorpius said firmly

"Are you sure?" she said

"Positive" he replied

"Well if this was a strong or out-of-date glass then it could just be the more dominant of someone closer to you" she shrugged

Everyone looked at Will. Orange was more dominant than white.

"I guess I should have paid the right price to that waitress" he said to himself

The drink exploded in his Dalila's hands as Scorpius glared at him.

"Easy" Will said holding out his hands

I didn't blame him. I probably would have done worse. Scorpius however simply took a breath. "How do you reverse it?" he asked Dalila calmly

She shook her head "You can't, you just have to wait for it to wear off, there's some powerful magic in it, it's been banned from several states. No normal magic can fix it"

"Oh what a shame Scorpius" said Will "No normal magic can fix it"

He said it almost tauntingly, Scorpius scowled at him and then glared at his familiar.

Dalila seemed to sense the mood around and unlike me didn't want to see how interesting this could turn out. Instead she diverted the subject "Would you like to dance?" she said to Will

I looked at Will. Careful she's an enchantress I thought. He perhaps didn't know this, if he didn't Scorpius certainly didn't seem in the mood to enlighten his friend. Will nodded to the request possibly because Scorpius was a good warlock and his pale face was flushing red to match his new hair nasty hexes no doubt on his tongue. Will and Dalila walked off together into the group of dancers.

Scorpius stopped glaring at his familiar either forgiving him or giving up at the attempt. I felt Zarbien feeling disappointed at this. Scorpius looked back over to the bar where he had come from.

"Maybe I could get the bar-girl to fix it" he suggested

"If she gave you a fixed drink she'll be unlikely to take off its effect" I said

"It was Will who insulted her not me" he protested

"Well either you both took it or the glasses got mixed up, I doubt she'll care" I said. I wouldn't I thought silently.

"He was always getting me into trouble" Scorpius muttered

I smiled. Scorpius had seemed like a bit of a troublemaker himself, I felt I kind of liked to have a troublemaker friend through, especially since I was at such a boring school.

"Would you like to dance?" he asked

His question took me by surprise and I looked out onto the dance floor. Everyone was out there and the music was cool so hey why not?

"Alright" I said and took his hand.

We went onto the dance floor and were soon in the dance spinning around like I'd been taught to. Some of the creatures around me did amazing dancing making mine look stupid. Dalila passed us a couple of times shining like a beacon in her sunlit dress. I could dance much better than Bella in any case even if dancing wasn't in my expertise. I didn't really want to think about Bella now though I just felt like getting lost in the music. A pair of fairies flew around my hand as I twirled about following wherever I moved sprinkling some fairy dust on my head which made me laugh, not voluntarily. I felt an emotion I hadn't felt in a long while, real proper enjoyment, I should go to more parties.

After a couple of songs we rejoined with Will, Dalila and found Otto in his two parts.

"Alright guys?" said Will rubbing his hands together a glint in his eye like a human kid at Christmas "Let's see these supplies, it's almost midnight, now or never with these vampires"


	23. The Vampire Itch

**I was asked who my favourite character in the Twilight book was: The truth is I just don't know it changes all the time with each chapter I read, I find it easier that way, it exercises your imagination when you come to write about them. **

**Apov**

We would through the people Otto in the lead because he was remarkably good at making a path for the rest of us.

We'd had a lowdown on the plan because Will had no idea what it was and I wasn't too sure myself.

We were up against some class ten vampires. Those kind of vampires were restricted to darkness which was handy, they couldn't even handle electricity. They like all vampires drank blood and like most vampires had fangs. Our trick was to lure the vampires away from their groups of other creatures and get them to drink the blood we had mixed with internal itching powder, nasty.

It was at times like these I found it a good thing I didn't guilt easily, how my conscience could simply take the day off, Bella wouldn't have been able to this, in fact I could picture her expression at me doing this.

We reached the edge of the party wall which led into a dark room filled with a glittering door with the words _Twilight Zone_ written in letters of jewels. I opened the door a crack and saw long floating objects ghost like glowed which eerily in the darkness.

"Corpse candles" I whispered to myself letting the door shut again

"They're in there" Will said and leaned towards us "OK, me, Scorpius and Otto will go round the far side over the roof, you, Dalila and Otto stay here at the door"

"Why don't we stick together?" asked Dalila staring at him

"And who put you in charge?" I asked

Seriously this guy and just showed up and now suddenly he was in charge, how does that work?

"Trust me Anastasia" said Scorpius "This prank will either go horribly wrong or perfectly well with Will involved and whichever happens will be hilariously funny, just go with it"

"Fine" I said grudgingly. I disliked being ordered about.

Will waited then started reciting instructions "We're splitting up because we have two potions one of internal itching powder and one of fast acting boil growing potion" he said holding up a green vial triumphantly "I've been waiting to use this"

"Where did you get that?" demanded Dalila

"I managed to weasel it out of Professor Clawson back home" said Will smugly

I had not the slightest idea who Professor Clawson was but guessed he wouldn't be enchanted at what we were doing with his potions.

Scorpius shook his head "No way were you able to weasel your way into making him to give you those"

"Oh my old friend never doubt my weaselling abilities for they are legend" Will grinned "I simply made a trade"

"What trade?"

"Professor Clawson has trouble sleeping. His murdered his wife when he cast a spell wrong and blew off her head. Every night he sees her head floating about and cant get through the night so I gave him some sleeping potion and I received the boil potion" Will explained

"And by that you mean you switched his normal drink with a sleeping potion, stuck into his closet and _stole_ the boil potion" Dalila corrected

"I prefer my story" shrugged Will and turned back to the door "Anyway, on the other side they'll be another opening which we'll use. We enchant the bloodbags to float into glasses or whatnot and throw them in with the vampires drinks, they won't even notice then we can watch the magic"

It sounded good but didn't sound likely to work.

"Scorpius can put a glamour on the blood so they won't be suspicious of it and Dalila you are our backup if that doesn't work. You're not scared of a few vampires are you?" he asked playfully

She shook her head

"Alright pass those blood bags you have to Scorpius he'll enchant them and we'll be off" Will grinned indicating the blood bags I now had in my pocket

I pulled them out of his reach "I am perfectly capable of enchanting them myself, thank you very much" I snapped

Will looked sideways at Scorpius and Scorpius shook his head "It's not complicated magic"

"Which by the way I can do as well" I said glaring at Will

Stupid elves, with their big pointy ears.

"Break it up" said Scorpius bringing me back to earth

"Zarbien stop it" I snapped

He and Scorpius's familiar were circling each other, Zarbien's fangs were bared and Scorpius's scorpion had it's tail pricked up as if about to shoot poison.

_He started it _Zarbien protested

"Leave him alone" growled Scorpius pulling on his familiar's tail

'I will not have you make a scene', I ordered

"Let's go" Scorpius said giving me an apologetic look.

He, Scorpius and Otto headed off leaving the three of us standing there.

'Well done' I said scathingly

_I have to defend my honour _Zarbien said firmly

'Just keep your argument to yourselves Scorpius is my friend and he's his other half deal with it'

Zarbien growled irritably. I opened the door a crack and pointed at my own eyes

"_Alicio alorem_" I said and the room became brighter nightvision kicking in

Dalila and Otto did the same

"What did they think this was a theme party?" laughed Dalila as we got a good look at the vampires.

They were all pale and good looking and we're all wearing old fashioned cloaks that looked about two hundred years old. I suppose that was their equivalent to a fancy tux. Type tens were so lame.

"Where are they?" asked Dalila to Otto referring to Scorpius, Will and Otto's other half

"On the roof" he replied

I wondered what it must be like to be in two halves, always in two places at once, maybe it was like being with a brother or sister, I couldn't imagine being around Bella all the time, it would kill me.

"_Toralatem_" I whispered and the blood flew out of the bag I had it in and slipped through the crack in the door like silk. I watched it float across the room winding in between peoples feet like a floating snake.

I let it slide all the way up into the main drink container where all the blood was being bottled with alcohol.

"Neat" said Otto and I smiled to myself

"Are they in yet?"

"Not yet"

In about a minute the first vampire showed his symptom. He began scratching his neck irritably. A friend of his came over and presumably asked him what was wrong although of course he could give no answer, type tens weren't suppose to feel natural itches.

In about two minutes I set off another two blood bags and soon half the room was scratching. It was hilarious, cold blooded killers full of itching powder.

I sent off another but then one vampire let out a howl of alarm at an itch in a personal area and me and Dalila burst out laughing, I lost control of the spell and it exploded inside the room sending bubbling blood in all directions. There was a distinct line from the door to us which was open.

There was a silence as forty or more blood red eyes turned towards the door, hungry, angry and itchy.


	24. Escape

"**Oh shit" I said as the vampires came toward the door fangs sliding from their sheaths eyes blazing scarlet**

**A teenage witch, a teenage enchantress and half a teenage warlock against more than forty angry type ten vampires, I wasn't loving our odds. **

_**Is this the part where we run?**_** Zarbien asked backing away **

"**Yeah" I said nodding not looking away from our opposition preparing to run for my life **

**I heard a scream from behind me coming from Dalila. I spun around to see four more vampires barring the way away from the door. But wait they were in the light? How were they in the light? Type tens couldn't even handle electricity, they couldn't handle the light coming from the dragon egg lanterns or the miniature fairies, could they? Unless of course they weren't type tens. **

"**I think you picked the wrong vampires to meddle with" one said grabbing Otto by the shirt eyeing his neck**

**Zarbien was tensing to spring, I saw Dalila's eyes turn red and Otto started casting a spell but that wasn't going to stop all of them, we were well and truly screwed. **

**Then a pale hand appeared next to my head. I jumped expecting it to grab me and wrench me into biting distance but instead I heard the words "Grab hold" in Scorpius's voice **

**I looked up and saw him hanging down from the roof by his scorpion familiar's tail. I didn't hesitate and grabbed hold letting myself be hauled up. I felt a cold hand connect with my foot which I shot off with a shockwave. **

'**Come on' I cried mentally to Zarbien **

**He sprang knocking two oncoming vampires out the way grabbing onto the roof with his paws claws sinking into the tiles. I fell back on the roof looking up at a blanket of stars **

"**You okay?" asked Scorpius as Will and Otto went to rescue Dalila and the other Otto **

**I was breathing heavily feeling I'd been saved from falling down a mineshaft. **

"**How did you know we were in trouble?" I asked getting up shakily **

"**Otto" he shrugged **

**Will, Dalila and Otto hauled themselves up and onto the roof. **

"**She's unconscious" said Will holding Dalila's body "But she's alive, she got a bite, not a bad one, nice work Otto" **

"**Thanks" he said in both forms **

**He lay her down on the ground and then I heard a whooshing sound and saw numerous bodies in dark Victorian outfits flying upwards around us. **

"**Oh come on" I said exasperated looking around **

"**Type sevens" said Scorpius "Damn, so close" **

**I spared him a furious glance, there was a very big difference between type tens and type sevens for starters sevens can come out in all light except sunlight even if it makes them uncomfortable, they are also stronger, faster and worst of all they can **_**fly**_**. **

"**Scorpius" said Will sounding rather alarmed as they encircled us**

"**Let's turn up the heat" said Scorpius under his breath **

**His dark eyes changed colour and I could feel the power radiating of him, suddenly the vampires surrounding us on the rood were caught up in flames, dark blue flames of wild magical fire **

**My mouth fell open as they let out yells falling to the ground trying in vain to put it out. **

"**How-" **

"**Come on" Will yelled as we ran away from the burning vampires **

**We ran across the roves, Will carrying the limp Dalila with his elf strength. The remaining vampires had joined the others on the roof and were seeking vengeance for their friends. Some of which were now sporting frightful faces of large purple boils. **

"**Where are we going?" I called to Scorpius as they advanced getting closer and closer "What's the plan?" **

"**This is the plan" he shouted back looking at me then the vampires soaring through the air fast on our tail**

"**This **_**is**_** the plan" he called back **

"_**This**_** is the plan!" I yelled **

"_**Wortorma**_**" I shouted forming a shield around myself as a vampire lunged at me from the air **

**He bounced back as he hit my force field but I couldn't hold them off forever. Scorpius had began throwing his blue fireballs at them blindly but hitting airborne targets is hard even for the greatest of warlocks. **

_**Get on!**_** Zarbien yelled in my head racing in a whirl moving so fast he was pretty much invisible to the naked eye. **

**I jumped on his back and he sped forward. We were heading towards the edge of the roves where the lake began. Zarbien would jump off the roof through the forest and out of danger. **

'**Wait go back for the others' I said looking back. Back was just a blur by now. **

_**I can't carry them all **_**he replied all focus on getting away from the danger **

'**You can't just leave them' I thought back. I sounded like Bella I thought to myself **

_**Just watch me **_

"**Zarbien turn around now!" I yelled and when he didn't I did one of the stupidest things I'd ever done in my entire life, I quite literally jumped of Zarbien onto the roof which was about the equivalent of jumping out of a race car at maximum speed onto concrete. **

**I hit the door and scraped along the ground hard. For a second I could just hear a lot of distant sounds then I felt something on my shoulder. **

"**Anastasia, **_**Anastasia!**_**" the voice whispered urgently **

"**Zarbien?" I said dazed **

**But it wasn't Zarbien, it was Scorpius. **

"**No time for sleeping, time for running" he said pulling me up. **

**He yelled a spell which I had never heard before and for just a second I thought I saw the lake glow a luminous blue then I blinked and it was normal before I could confirm whether I really saw it. We reached the edge of the roof onto the verge of the lake. **

"**Jump" said Scorpius **

"**What?" I said **

"**JUMP!" yelled Will crashing into us from behind and knocked us both pushing us both off the roof and into the lake. **

**I fell and then landed in the water with a crash. Shock shot through me as I was submerged in cold water. I flung my arms around wildly trying to grab hold of something. **

**Eventually I burst to the surface and felt clean air taking a huge breath. I grabbed wildly onto Scorpius who was swimming expertly like an eel through the water. **

"**Whoa" he yelled as I nearly dragged him under **

"**Can't swim" I choked **

**I looked up and saw a rain of vampires coming down, I shut my eyes and heard a sizzling noise like you do at a barbecue. **

**I opened my eyes to see the vampires that made it passed Scorpius's shield frying as they hit water. **

"**Holy water" one yelled that was still in the air **

"**That's impossible" another one said looking at the lake in complete confusion **

**They started arguing before flying away none of them wanting to risk it. I took a breath of impossible relief as they left. They were gone, they were gone and they weren't coming back. Then Will who was with Otto trying to keep the unconscious Dalila afloat started laughing loudly and triumphantly. Scorpius cheered. **

"**This Scorpius, **_**this**_**, is was what I missed" called Will "Yeah!" **

**After a few minutes I joined in "We did it!" **

**The adrenaline rush from that had been incredible, I barely even noticed the cuts along my arms and where I had fallen when I jumped. **

**I soon saw Zarbien swimming towards me through the water in lion form, Scorpius passed me over and to him and Will and Otto balanced Dalila on his back. We all began swimming in victory towards the edge of the lake. **

**That wasn't a party I'd forget in a hurry. **

**Though as we neared the waters edge Zarbien spoke inside my mind his voice cold and furious. **

_**We need to have a serious talk **_


	25. Invitations and Declinement

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephanie Meyer – except Anastasia and Scorpius **

**Apov**

That morning I got up with a groan. I wasn't in the best of moods, I trudged down the stairs to make breakfast and saw Anastasia wide awake staring at Zarbien no doubt talking telepathically.

"Anastasia?" I said

She looked over to me and sighed

"I thought you weren't talking to me?" she said

"I'm not" I said automatically

She raised her eyebrows

"I mean I'm not but I do need to know where you were last night" I corrected

"I was at a party" she said absentmindedly "With Scorpius"

I rolled my eyes "I'm your big sister I'm responsible for you, you can't just go wandering off to parties. Me and Charlie were worried"

At this she laughed out loud "Your father, worried? That prat wouldn't care if I never came home, he'd throw a party and pay for my body to be put on display"

"That's not true" I snapped in Charlie's defence

"You're right" she nodded "He wouldn't want to waste so much money on me, he'd make mom go half and half on everything"

I shook my head at her impossibleness "Just don't do it again OK"

"You're not the boss of me. I can do what I like" she replied

"Anastasia" I said putting on my best cold commanding voice

"Bella" she said back sarcastically impersonating my voice

I sighed and walked away, we could do this all day.

"Just please at least tell me when your going off to do stuff like this" I said at the door

"Fine" she sighed "I'm all partied out now any way, I tell you if I so much as one more vampire I will blow his head off"

I frowned wondering what vampires had to do with her party, I decided not to ask content with her agreement in informing me in the future.

We drove to school and pulled into the parking lot, I deliberately parked as far away from the Volvo as possible. I didn't want Anastasia trying to choke any vampires. Anastasia jumped out the cab with Zarbien and vanished without a word.

Getting out the cab, I fumbled with the key and it fell into a puddle at my feet. As I bent to get it, a white hand flashed out and grabbed it before I could. I jerked upright. Edward Cullen, the vampire, was right next to me, leaning casually against my truck.

My heart race shot up wildly. I could feel my hands shaking. Oh crap, oh crap, vampire, vampire, vampire! Where is Anastasia when you need her?

"Hello" he said smoothly holding out my key as he spoke "Dropped your keys"

Unconsciously I reached for it and he dropped it in my palm.

"I need to talk to you" he said

I stood rooted to the spot. Could've been worse, he could have just said 'I need to bite you'

"Yes?" I replied trying to keep my voice emotionless like Anastasia's and failing miserably voice shaking.

"I was wondering, a week on Saturday – you know, the day of the Spring dance-"

"What?" I said mouth falling open "Did you not see what happened to Tyler?" I said without thinking

"What has Tyler got to do with anything" he asked in a different tone

"Nothing" I said too quickly "I just thought you might have heard me telling him that I was going to Seattle on Saturday, not to the dance"

"I saw him writhing in agony, you didn't say anything about Seattle" he said sounding both confused and investigative.

"Well, I...was about to. Anyway I'm going to Seattle that Saturday so I can't make the dance" I said praying he wouldn't press it

"I know" he said

"What?"

"I know you're going to Seattle that Saturday"

"How?" I asked confused

"I heard you telling Mike Newton"

My eyebrows rose in surprise. Had he been following me? That couldn't be a good thing.

"I was wondering if I could give you a ride"

That was unexpected

"With who?" I asked mystified

"Myself, obviously" He enunciated every syllable, as if he were talking to someone mentally handicapped

Do you think I'm stupid? I nearly said aloud. Get into a car alone in Forks with a vampire. No way. I felt anger bubbling up inside me, he had no idea I knew did he, he had no idea at all, he thought I was just some completely oblivious human who would just jump at the chance.

"I'm going with my sister" I said and started to walk away, I wasn't surprised, my anger level was rising though.

"Is this the sister who hates guys who dates your family?" he said matching my pace

"Yes, I only have one sister" I said. One Anastasia was definitely enough.

"Maybe I could give her a ride too, I'm not sure your truck could make it on one tank of gas"

"First of all" I said turning on him now under the shelter of the cafeteria roof "My truck works fine over long distances" – mainly because Anastasia enchanted it - "And second I really can't see you and my sister getting along"

I stood there, without the rain I could see his vampire features clearly, the beauty to others was admirable but all I saw was a hunting weapon, good looks were the vampire's means of luring there prey nothing more.

"So you won't accept my offer?" he asked

I could identify something in his voice, was it anger? No. Hunger? No, surprisingly it sounded almost like disappointment. Weird.

"Probably best anyway" he said instantly recovering himself "As I said before, you should stay away from me, I'll see you in class"

I made my way to English in a daze. I didn't even realise when I walked in that class had already started.

"Thank you for joining us, Miss Swan" Mr. Mason said in a disparaging tone.

I flushed and hurried to my seat.

It wasn't until class ended that I realised Mike wasn't sitting in his usual seat next to me. I felt a twinge of guilt. After class he seemed more himself as we walked, gaining enthusiasm as he talked about the weather report for this weekend. Now seemed as good as any to drop the bomb.

"Mike, I can't make it to the beach trip this weekend" I said

He stared at me in horror "Why?"

"It's my sister she has this thing, it's really important, she really needs me" I said using the Anastasia excuse again.

Anyone who knew what Anastasia was really like would have laughed at this, Anastasia had never needed me in her life.

"What's happened to her?" demanded Mike

"It's personal, I'm really sorry" I apologized

I wasn't remotely sorry, I hated the ocean and all forms of water almost as much as Anastasia who couldn't even swim. Within the ocean lay horrific creatures to horrible to imagine. The magical community covered up most human casualties. Anastasia had taken the liberty of telling me a few of the ocean's monstrosities purely so like her I would hate the sea. Although she wasn't scared of the creatures, her problem with the ocean was a mystery to me.

Mike then it seemed had had enough; my declining of his invitation to the prom had been one thing this clearly was another, he tightened his lip and walked purposefully forward. I caught up silently and he ignored me. Had I just lost one of my friends?

The rest of the morning past slower than usual, Mike didn't seem prepared to talk to me again. I decided to concentrate on the Edward problem. I had a vampire on my tail and couldn't wait to find Anastasia an tell her the news, looking at me as if I was his worst enemy and then following me was one thing but trying to persuade me to get into a car alone with him and his fangs was another thing. He had crossed a line.

How this would go down with Anastasia I wasn't sure but for Edward I didn't imagine it to be pretty.


	26. The Upper Hand

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Scorpius **

**My apologies for writing that the last chapter was in Anastasia's point of view when clearly it was in Bella's, **_**this**_** chapter is in Anastasia's point of view. **

**Apov**

I jumped out Bella's truck my mind set on where I was going.

_I'm not going_ said Zarbien again stubbornly

'Suit yourself' I said sick of this argument

Zarbien growled

We'd been arguing all morning. When we got home all I'd wanted to do was sleep but Zarbien had kept me up furious that I had gone back for Scorpius and the others back on the rooftops. I wasn't entirely sure why I had done it either, it had been a spur of the moment, Zarbien sensed my confusion so eventually laid off me after making me solemnly swear never to do such a thing again.

I was completely healed up again and then I had a plan. Zarbien had been furious the minute I thought of it and decided. He was thoroughly against it. We didn't usually argue, he was my other half after all and my magic wasn't nearly as good when he was away from me.

By now I was tired and had decided I was going with or without him.

I did a quick magical scan and found Scorpius. Technically I found a magical source my power wasn't strong enough to acknowledge the individual powers of the whole school. But at Forks Scorpius and me were the only really magical beings, I wasn't counting the Cullen's who couldn't do any proper _magic_.

I walked around the school with Zarbien sulkily following my lead. Soon I found Scorpius in conversation with that boy I had seen him with the first time we met, what was his name Ryan? Brian? Who knows, who cares, it was Scorpius I was here to see.

As I approached the human boy whatever his name was gave a smirk in Scorpius's direction and walked off with one eyebrow raised. Scorpius rolled his eyes at him as he left. His long hair was tied up and thankfully no longer orange but it's original paper white.

"Hey" I said looking after him "What's that about?"

_Like you care_ said Zarbien who was eyeing Scorpius's scorpion familiar which was half under a bush in miniature form.

"Nothing" replied Scorpius "He's an idiot, all the other guys here are"

"Well I ain't arguing with that" I said "I have a question for you"

"Shoot"

I took a breath "Yesterday, at the party..."

"Yeah?"

"What the hell was that, with those vampires?" I blurted out

"What do you mean? We provoked them, they attacked us. Were you surprised?" he asked

"No I mean you with that fire how did you do that?" I said

Scorpius frowned at me "It was a fire spell, any warlock can do it, any witch, can't you?"

"Sure I can do fire it doesn't mean I can simultaneously set _twenty_ vampires several meters away from me alight. What kind of fire was that anyway, it wasn't normal? I mean, that was advanced magic, how did you learn to do that, you're only sixteen?" I said finally

"I am nearly seventeen, less than three months now" he corrected

"Don't change the subject I want an answer" I demanded

"Fine I have a weakness for fire spells, my brother had an obsession with them and I sort of did too, you should have seen the havoc me and Will caused back home, by now I'm really good at them because I focus on them so much" he said a small smile coming to his face as he reminisced

I shook my head "That wouldn't increase your powers to that level, I've measured at your power you're not that good"

"Gee thanks" he said

"And what was that with the lake, it...glowed and then became holy water to burn the vampires. Did you enchant it?" I asked baffled

He gave me a look "You think I changed an entire _lake_ into holy water?"

"Well it was holy water?" I said back

"It must have been blessed by someone else previously, it certainly wasn't me, I'm a warlock not a druid" he said

"But I saw it glow" I retorted

"I was running along with you I was looking at the water, there was no glow" he said firmly

"No I saw it"

"Well you must have been hallucinating, probably from that fall" he shrugged

"Zarbien saw it too" I protested

_No I didn't_ Zarbien said and I glared at him

"Anastasia, I am good at fire spells and you flatter me but I cannot enchant huge lakes to make them completely holy water in but a few seconds, maybe one day I'll be able to but not right now" he said giving me an almost sympathetic look

I scowled feeling like a child

"Show me that fire thing" I demanded

He looked surprised "Here?"

"No, not here, let's go somewhere else and you can show me how you do it, tell me the spell" I said

"You know it's not something you just learn overnight, it takes practise, a _lot_ of practise, you'll learn it when you go to Darkhalls academy" he said

"Well I don't want to wait that long, that's more than half a year for me" I said "I want to see how it's done now"

He gave a half laugh "Why for God's sakes?"

"You're my friend and I don't like to think that you're in a higher field than me, I don't like to have the lower hand" I said simply

He raised an eyebrow "Wow, the upper hand, I feel so privileged"

"Exactly you shouldn't that why I want you to show me how you did it"

"Maybe I enjoy having a bit of the upper hand" he said smugly

"The only warlock I will allow to have the upper hand above me is my father" I said through gritted teeth "Even Zeke was not granted that, now show me how you did it now or you will be on your own in this school" I said making it clear in my tone I was serious

He looked at me weighing up my threat then sighed "Do I have to" he moaned

"Yes, come on" I said clearly "Teach me how to do it"

He gave me an annoyed look.

I smiled "Teach me how to play with fire Scorpius"


	27. The Canteen

**Epov**

I walked into the canteen feeling an emotion I usually tried to ignore, embarrassment. When you're a mind reader you get a lot of it, like when you lock into someone like Mike Newton's head and find a lot of things you really don't want to see or when someone says your name in their head meaning someone else and you talk to them thinking they mean you.

I had over my many many years built up an immunity to embarrassment but with Bella it hit me head on. Being shot down for the first out-of-school communication you've actually wanted in God knows how long really does make your cheeks burn.

I wasn't sure what I was expecting, I guess I should have learned from Tyler, Mike _and_ Eric's mistake but I just figured that offering a ride to a Seattle was different than an invitation to a prom.

I walked in to the canteen Bella and her sister were nowhere to be seen, my plan for the day – since I had given up avoiding Bella to Alice's delight – was to get her to agree to go to Seattle with me then maybe have lunch with her. I almost felt like I was trying to trap her, anyway after her declinement I decided it would be better to sit with my family.

As I sat down Jasper glanced up at me

"Embarrassed?" he observed

"Actually yes, I am" I admitted knowing there was very little point in hiding it

"Hmm" was all he said in reply, his thoughts were thinking about what I did to Bella that could have got me embarrassed.

"What did you do?" asked Alice curious as usual

But I wasn't listening, Bella had just entered the room and was looking around presumably for her sister who was nowhere to be seen. She looked over in my direction and I dropped my gaze instantly.

She sat down with Jessica instead looking rather frustrated. I wondered what this thing was with her sister, it was almost as if they had something to hide and they protecting it like she-lions.

Bella looked bored at whatever Jessica was babbling about, she sat there sulking every now and then rescanning the room for her sister. They were talking about dresses, I could tell from their thoughts, that sounded boring –well maybe not to Alice – but clearly to Bella. I wondered if she would have found me any more entertaining.

"Go on" said Alice

"What?" I replied innocently

"Invite her to sit with you"

"Did you have a vision?" I asked but couldn't see such a thing in her mind

"Edward I don't have to see the future to think of a good idea" she snapped back "She obviously doesn't want to be sitting with them you should invite her over"

"What will happen if I do?" I queried

Alice sighed and a vision flashed through her head it included Bella leaving the canteen with an extreme amount of haste.

"Well there goes that suggestion" I said feeling put out

At the end of lunch where me and my family had eaten nothing and left, I shook off my doubt and went over to where Bella was walking at the sight of me a few paces away appearing practically out of nowhere she gave a jump of alarm and fell over backwards.

Yep she was a klutz.

She scrambled up not offering the hand I offered her.

"It's only me" I said calmly

"Right" she said staring at me as if I were a little insane.

"I've decided to give up trying to be away from you, it's not working well and my sister is annoying me to death about it" I said

"What why?" she said sounding alert looking towards Alice and Rosaline clearly unsure which sister I was talking about.

"Yeah so I'm giving up" I said just to confirm

"Giving up?" she said in a strange voice I couldn't determine. Why couldn't I read her mind, this was so annoying.

"Yes – giving up trying to be good. I'm just going to do what I want now" I shrugged

Her eyes widened with something like fear and her heart rate increased to a faster beat. Realisation hit me she was scared, did she know I was a vampire? That would explain everything.

"How much do you know about me?" I asked warily

"Enough" she replied "Look I have to get to class-"

I held out a hand to stop her and she jumped about a meter backwards as if I were holding out a snake "Can't I just talk to you about this"

"You can talk to _my sister_" she said "After me"

I let my hand drop and she looked at me, I indicated with my hand that she could go and she walked away at a deliberately high speed.

"You and your sister are hiding something" I said after her without control voice echoing off the corridor.

She stopped in her tracks and slowly turned to me with a strange expression "What?"

"You and your sister are hiding something" I said "And believe me I'm going to find out what" I said firmly and walked off in the opposite direction.


	28. Learning Fire

**Disclaimer: ****None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Scorpius **

**Apov **

Scorpius and I had spent the whole day practising with fire. It was a fire spell I had never used before and was actually quite enjoying. We had skipped lessons and lunch staying on the borderlines of the woods. Scorpius it was obvious was finding it boring, and why wouldn't he, he already knew this spell.

"Concentrate now really _concentrate_, picture it in your mind" Scorpius said sitting on a fallen tree – which he had felled.

"I know I know" I replied trying as hard as I could

"_Lafortana pretigos_" I said inside my head

Nothing happened

I'd never been good with complicated spells that aren't used _verbally_, mental spells are trickier and this one was proving very challenging.

"Like this" Scorpius said and focused his eyes which flashed. Three pine trees caught fire blue flames licking up their trunks in a second. I looked up in wonder as they burnt in a wave of blue until the very tops of the tree was bathed in flame.

"I love magic" I said to myself

Scorpius clicked his fingers and the flames vanished almost as quickly as they had came. Spells to get rid of fire were pretty easy.

I said the spell inside my head again and again and again, it was hours until I got a result. The result wasn't as planned though, I was aiming to set a tree alight instead I got Scorpius. Blue fire ate at his clothes and he gave a yell of alarm and put it out.

"Oh sorry" I winced. I don't often apologize but he was helping me.

He shook his head as he tried to telepathically reweave his jacket. "Jesus woman, careful"

I smiled and carried on until I finally set a tree on fire.

"When did you say you were going to Darkhalls" he asked after a few hours

"Ages, august" I said it seemed an eternity away

"You have my sympathies if that means anything" he put in

I shook my head "I'm not really a sympathy person

"I noticed" he smiled "So what are you looking forward to at Darkhalls? Do you have any family there?"

I shook my head again "No Bella's my only family and my father and human mother"

"What was it like being raised by a human?" he asked looking interested

I shrugged "Not that bad, had to keep a lot of secrets but Renee – my mother – well she wasn't the brightest spark so it was easier to get behind her back. My father helped make sure I grew up to be a successful witch but he didn't live with us"

"Hmm, it can be hard keeping a low profile of your powers, especially from people close to you" Scorpius nodded

"I suppose you'd know" I said sarcastically

"Anyway" he said "Do you have any friends at Darkhalls?"

"A few from my old school and my boyfriend Zeke" I said wistfully

"Do you miss him?"

I nodded feeling a familiar pang of longing inside me then looked at Scorpius "But don't tell anyone that, I don't want to look all pathetic"

"Alright" he nodded

"He's the son of the headmaster" I said unable to resist

Scorpius stared at me eyes widening "No way. Zeke _Vowrex_ is your boyfriend, the Vowrex family that are on the high magical council?"

"Yep" I said feeling a surge of pride well up inside me. Bella had described Zeke as the human equivalent of Prince William. That was going a little overboard, he wasn't really royalty but I didn't care I was never going to meet royalty.

"You aim high" he said raising an eyebrow

"Yep" I repeated

With that two trees caught on fire, magical blue fire which burnt beautifully.

Scorpius did a slow clap "Nice, can we move onto something else"

"No" I said back "I want to be able to do it to the extent that you did, back at the party where you set like twenty vampires alight"

He groaned loudly into his hands "That will take you weeks to learn, can't you just be better at me at something else then call it even?"

I folded my arms and glared at him, after a few seconds a spot of his white skin started burning under my laser like gaze.

"Oww, oww,oww, fine" he said jerking out of my line of vision rubbing his head

"Good" I said in a sarcastic sweet voice.

He looked back at me face exasperated then up heavenward "_Always_ the women"


	29. A Sickly Day

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Scorpius **

**Bpov **

My blood felt cold as he walked away and I half ran to class, my head spinning faster than a bottle cap. He was looking into our trail, what would happen if he found out Anastasia was witch, would he send an angry mob after us? If he was a vampire he could be hundreds of years old and that's what they used to do back in those days.

I was lucky; Mr. Branner wasn't in the room when I arrived. He might have been perturbed by the look of horror plastered on my face as these thoughts spun through my brain. I settled quickly into my seat trying to regain myself.

Mr. Branner came in the room then, calling the class to order. He was juggling a few cardboard boxes in his arms. He put them down on Mike's table and told them to start passing them around the class.

"Okay, guys, I want you to take one piece from each box," he said as he produced a pair of rubbed gloves from the pocket of his lab jacket and pulled them on.

"This should be an indicator card..." he said and started going on explaining the equipment. It was an indicator alright an indicator for trouble. I wasn't good with blood, it made me feel sick however living with Anastasia had toughened me up, my blood had contributed to a lot of her spells, something I still feel I wasn't given enough choice about.

I had learnt numerous techniques for avoiding blood nausea, first I would think about an event which included blood which had resulted in Anastasia saving my life by a hairsbreadth – I had plenty of choice for that one – this always brought on a flood of frantic relief. I would also picture the blood as not blood but one of the other gazillion scarlet potions Anastasia used in everyday life. A finally my most effective of all to drown out the smell I would imagine when Anastasia had teleported us by accident into a magical remote swamp where I had not only nearly drowned but also nearly suffocated by the smell. This also took my mind of the blood anyway.

I got started imagining the time Anastasia had rescued me from a stone demon who had turned me into a statue whilst me and her were visiting her boyfriends mansion. He had failed to tell her he had one as a pet and I was only saved when they went walking through the gardens and recognised one of the statues as me. That was so close my body was so close to just shutting down. Relief washed over me like a wave inside my mind.

Then I pictured the blood which was now welling out of Mike's finger as simply a sleeping potion which could come in red variety, Anastasia had often given me those after some dangerous encounters. That method helped a little but I still looked like blood.

Then the swamp filled my head the fumes and the smell and me yelling at Anastasia "What did you do?"

"Are you alright Bella?" asked Mike looking at me with concern

"I'm fine," I said and felt an urge to tell him that it is not wise to open your mouth whilst in a magical swamp.

"You've turned a little green and you're wrinkling your nose," he said eyebrow raised

I've a swamp running through my head I thought exasperatedly and its this or watch me faint so deal with it.

"I'm fine," I repeated firmly and stabbed myself in the finger furiously to prove a point. By now my body had taken so much magical damage I hardly noticed a small pinprick.

I fought through the class finding it unusual how a girl whose life contained so much bloodshed could be so squeamish. I decided to ask Anastasia to have a re-hunt for a spell to cure it. Regardless with all these techniques put into practise the blood had next to no effect on me.

After class was gym in which my blood boiled from falling over so many times. I shouldn't have gone to gym or biology for that matter. Maybe ditching was healthy, I wish someone had told me that, Anastasia did it a lot but I was too concerned with Edward's unintentional threat that I hadn't thought about it.

The rest of the day made my head hurt. Both physically and mentally with the wham of basketballs and the image of blood reappearing, that and with the worry of Edward Cullen discovering our secret.

I got into the truck where Anastasia was already sitting with Zarbien. I gripped the steering wheel and stared forward at the road not doing anything else. After a moment of sitting in silence Anastasia looked at me.

"Do you want me to drive?" she asked

I nodded still holding onto the wheel as Anastasia telekinetically took control of the car making it reverse and drive down the road. Anastasia always drove faster than me and I knew my warnings would mean nothing to her so as the truck accelerated at a magical pace which would be well beyond its normal engine capacity I used my old technique which usually worked

"I may throw up on you," I said voice hoarse

The car began to slow slightly. I didn't want to risk a crash in such horrible weather , I had a pretty convincing face for it and Anastasia had something against vomit.

Eventually the car stopped and we both went in the house. I sat down for a bit regaining myself trying to put thoughts of swamps and blood and vampires ratting us out to the public out of my mind.

Well I could deal with one. Anastasia could solve the last.

I walked back into the living room

She and Zarbien were lounging around, Anastasia was lying on the sofa nose in her spell book.

"Anastasia why weren't you in the canteen at lunch?" I asked starting small

"I was with Scorpius," she said absentmindedly

I frowned "You know you've been spending a lot of time with him,"

"Who else have I got to spend time is this place is a supernatural desert," she said as if that explained everything

"Right well where were you?" I said walking into the living room

"Scorpius was teaching me a new spell," she said

I stopped dead in my tracks forgetting briefly my motive for talking to her "What?"

"Did you not hear me?" she said sarcastically

"You are taking advice on magic from someone other than your father or magic teacher? You are getting a _guy_ to teach you your magic? OK who are you and what have you done with my sister?"

She put down her book and scowled at me "Is there something you want?"

"Yes," I said seeing her patience running thin "I need to talk to you,"

She clicked her fingers without saying a word and the fireplace lit up with blue flames crackling away. "Then talk,"

I stared at the fireplace, I'd never seen her make blue fire, or any fire spell without an incantation. Maybe this Scorpius was a good warlock, who knows?

"I need to tell you what happened today it was in the morning Ed-"

"Is this going to be a long story because I've got better things to do than listen to you ramble on about human trivia?" she said whilst Zarbien jumped down from the sofa and curled himself up in front of the blue fire.

"I do have a point I promise." I said

"Then make it," Anastasia said with a sigh

My mind went back to Edward and his confrontation first this morning then in the cafeteria. I planned to explain both these events and then follow her course of action but instead different words came out of my mouth.

"What would you do if a guy ever hurt me?"

She looked up "I'd kill him, I thought that was obvious,"

"What if he was only _capable_ of killing me," I corrected

"I would check if he was going to hurt you, if he wasn't then fine, if not _then_ I would kill him," she said "Why?"

The words 'kill him' were swimming through my head and whilst my brain was yelling at me to tell her and play it safe my mouth wasn't obeying and answered "Nothing"

"Oh no," she said looking at me in an annoyed way

"What?" I said innocently

"Do you still think that vampires after you? Can't you cut the guy a break?" she said rolling her eyes

"I am cutting him a break," I said incredulously. I should be turning him in right now, telling my sister his words of 'I've given up being good' and his attempt to get me alone in a car. By covering this up I was probably saving his life and putting mine in further danger.

What are you doing? Why are you doing this my rational mind said as I walked out of the room. Why?


	30. Anastasia's Dream

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Scorpius **

**Apov**

I walked along the cold marble floor in my bare feet and looked up at the ceiling which was very high held up by giant marble pillars each with an indent baring a statue of a different species of magical being, there were hundreds of them.

My hair blew just slightly sideways and I knew it was not wind doing so – the air was still – but the magical power floating around the room, it was simply overpowering.

I squinted to see the markings on the ceiling, it was covered in magical runes I'd never studied before, _ancient_ runes, ones so old that I knew I would never learn their secrets.

I was in a temple of some kind, a massive temple that stretched impossibly far. Zarbien followed behind me totally silent. The room was rather dark but I could see a slight light shining from an unknown source near the centre. Where was I?

'Where do you think we are Zarbien?' I thought looking around feeling a numbness going over me

_I think you better go and stand in the circle _replied a voice that wasn't Zarbien's

I turned and looked at him, he looked back his usually sharp dark eyes were looking forward blindly almost impassive

"Zarbien...what's wrong?" I asked aloud

He stared at me blankly _Nothing is wrong yet for no decisions have been made_

I knew immediately that this was not Zarbien, it was not his voice or his mind, this was...something else.

"What have you done to Zarbien?" I demanded

_The familiar you seek is not of the magical origins worthy to walk these halls, his mind cannot breach these magical borders _

"Zarbien is worthy to walk anywhere that I walk," I said firmly

Zarbien – or whatever was in his body – nodded _We know but we shall make an exception for you_

He walked past me and headed towards the centre of the room. I followed a little unnerved all the hairs rising on the back of my neck.

In the centre of the room was a large golden plate built into the ground many meters wide in each direction. Layers of text spiralling round were written none of which I could understand. In the centre was a large shimmering light. It was beautiful and the magic radiating off it was so strong I couldn't look at it for long. I t was amazing, unique and ancient.

"Is that...an Old-Soul stone?" I asked in wonder

Old-Soul stones weren't actually stones but could take their form. They were immensely impossibly powerful, they could literally take the soul out of body and do anything with it, you could turn a simple human into a powerful sorcerer, create unlimited types of life from nothing or anything, shape the world around you as you please, they were indestructible. It was said that magical Gods keep them within them, that the Old-Soul stone was a part of their mountains of power

"The heart of an Old-Soul stone," said the creature inside Zarbien

"Where am I?" I asked "Why can't my familiar be with me"

"Here you have no familiar young witch, you are but yourself" he replied

I paused wondering what place on this earth could exist where a witch did not need her familiar, her power, her other half

"Where am I?" I repeated "Sir" I added out of fear more than anything else

"You walk these hall because your destiny has become entwined and twisted and now you are a key element to what we are trying to restore," Zarbien spoke

"I have something to do with the Gods?" I said surprised but sort of inwardly pleased

"You are but an ordinary witch, you have more potential than most but it is not your abilities that will aid us but your course of actions that will help us regain what we have lost and what we must not lose" said Zarbien

"What do you want me to do?" I asked more than a little confused

"We need you to choose and choose correctly before it is too late" he said

Choose? Choose what?

I looked up to ask this question but suddenly all had changed and I hadn't even noticed, how had I not noticed it earlier?

The temple around me had gone, the walls, the ceiling, the pillars it had all vanished leaving me in total infinite darkness in every direction as far as the eye could see. Zarbien had vanished too leaving me alone.

It was total silence around me, I could barely hear myself breathe.

I was still standing on the golden circular plate that I had seen before which was hovering in the darkness and had turned into what looked like the centre of a gigantic golden set of scales.

Where the Old-Soul stone had been – the centre of the golden circle – a long pole now extended leading out to the two weighing scales hanging in the darkness. I felt as if I had taken a shrinking spell and had become a miniature person on a set of balancing scales.

There were other people on the set of scales now, they seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, it was balanced perfectly with one person on either side. On the right side I could see Scorpius in strange long clothes white hair hanging down in what was no longer a scruffy ponytail but a long elegant ponytail which complimented his pale face, he was still as a statue dark midnight blue eyes staring at me.

On the left side was a different boy a little older. He was tall with the same pale colouring as Scorpius but he had shoulder length black hair and eyes black as jet. He was all in black wearing a long black trench coat which reached his ankles, he too was staring at me unmoving.

"Zeke?" I said in total confusion

Then I felt something cold twist around my right hand and I looked down to see a silver shimmering string winding twice around my hand and someone else's binding them tightly. My head snapped up as I came face to face with Bella whose left hand was now tied to mine. What was this, an enchanted chain?

"Bella what are you doing here?" I demanded

"I'm with you, always" she said without any emotion, I stared at her and she looked from one boy to the other.

When I followed her gaze I frowned in complete confusion. Zeke and Scorpius were gone, in there place were two new people. To the left where Zeke had been standing was Edward Cullen the vampire from school which she wouldn't shut up about and where Scorpius had been was an Indian-looking boy with long black hair I had never even seen before. They were looking at Bella with the same emotionless expressions that Zeke and Scorpius had been looking at me.

"What...what..." I stammered

Then upon the golden ground the runes shimmered and then the golden plate gave away under my feet and me and Bella fell into infinite darkness.

I sat up on the sofa gasping like the devil had been chasing me. I looked around wildly, I was in Bella's house her living room. My heart was beating a mile a minute. I shut my eyes in relief, it had just been a dream, a simple dream, I wasn't a prophetess, a seer or a druid or that kind of thing. I was a young untrained witch, I wouldn't be foreseeing anything like that, it had just been a dream. What a relief.

I looked over at Zarbien regaining my breath and smiled, no doubt he was feeling the same way, familiars always had the same dreams as their persons.

"Crazy dream or what?" I said to Zarbien rubbing my eyes

Zarbien frowned at me from the floor "_What dream?_"


	31. Swapping Info

_**So you were in a temple**_**? Zarbien said for the fourth time **

"**Yes" I sighed **

_**With someone or something who didn't look like me?**_

"**Yes" I said again **

_**You saw an Old-Soul stone?**_

"**I think so yes" I said although it sounded just too weird **

_**And then you were on a set of scales?**_** he said **

"**Yes" I sighed feeling stupider by the minute **

_**And then-**_

"**Yes OK" I interrupted "Yes, yes and yes. I've told you everything." **

_**But why wasn't I there with you? And why can't I read your mind and see this dream?**_** he said indignantly **

**I had to agree that was weird, I could share any thoughts, memories or ideas with Zarbien yet this dream wouldn't show in his mind no matter how hard I thought of it. **

**I sighed "I already told you, on one side of the set of scales I saw Zeke and that vampire from school and then on the other side I saw Scorpius in this strange outfit and some other boy I'd never seen before" **

_**What did he look like again?**_** Zarbien said and I could sense his frustration at having to ask for these descriptions **

"**Very tall, sort of Indian looking with long black hair" I shrugged **

**Zarbien looked calculating **_**Do you know any Indians?**_

**I shook my head "Not since those Indian druids four years ago but they were all old, nothing like him" **

_**Right, did he look human?**_

"**Sort of but I look human and I most certainly am not" I replied **

_**Maybe he was a warlock? Zeke and Scorpius were warlocks, maybe it was some kind of magic scale**_** Zarbien suggested **

**I shook my head impatiently "It was balanced when Edward and that other boy were on it, Edward's a class two vampire, he doesn't have an ounce of magic in him" **

_**Well there you go**_** said Zarbien **_**Maybe they're balanced because neither of them have magic, he could be one of any number of non-magical creatures**_

"**But Zeke and Scorpius aren't the same magic level and they were balanced. No it's not magic its balancing it's...something else..." I trailed off into thought **

**The door opened interrupting any number of theories running through my brain, I scowled without looking who it was assuming it was Bella's pathetic excuse for a parent. I telekinetically made the doormat fly up into the air. **

**As expected I heard a cry and a crash, unfortunately it was a female scream and it was not Bella's useless father who had walked in, it was Bella herself. She was now on the floor against the door clutching her head. **

_**That's gotta hurt**_** said Zarbien inside my mind **

**I nodded **

"**Argh" Bella moaned rubbing it glancing in my direction **

**I just stared back knowing if I tried an apologetic face it would just come out as some sort of sneer. I really wasn't good with expressions. **

**Bella got up and came towards me "What did I do now?" **

"**I thought you were Charles." I said truthfully **

**She glared at me and turned her head sideways so I could do a healing spell to get rid of the lump forming. **

"**I want you to lay of Charlie." she said **

"**And I want to be at Darkhalls academy" I said to her "We don't always get what we want" **

**She looked at me and I rolled my eyes "No" I said clearly "Not until he treats me with sufficient respect" **

**We both knew this would never happen and she looked down looking defeated and unhappy. Zarbien and I exchanged a triumphant victory smirk while she was looking the other way. **

"**All done." I said my spell complete**

**She gave a sigh. "Why weren't you at school today?" she asked **

"**I had things to think about and discuss with Zarbien." I said **

"**And by that you mean you wanted to bunk of school because you hate it." Bella said **

"**Partly but mostly because I had things to sort out, things you wouldn't understand." I said **

**She folded her arms crossly "You know Anastasia not **_**everything**_** that's important, human can't understand." **

**I nodded "True but you have to admit the majority of things are." **

**She scowled "I'm going upstairs, **_**do not**_** hurt Charlie when he comes in" **

**I didn't reply inwardly planning an interesting way to knock that so-called-sheriff unconscious. Bella was heading away when a thought hit me **

"**Bella." I said **

**She turned back **

"**Edward Cullen," I said and she jumped. Blimey did the name itself scare her? "Has he been acting unusually, or well just doing something that would be of any interest?" **

**She was my main link to the vampire-boy in my dream. **

**She seemed to hesitate then shook her head "No, he's acting normal." **

**She turned away to quickly and headed out the room **

_**She's lying**_** said Zarbien **

**I know I relied to him **

**The door slammed in front of Bella's face locking tightly. She turned back to me looking almost frightened**

"**Don't lie to me Bella" I said intensifying my gaze just a little bit. That little bit was almost always enough to crack Bella. **

"**I think he might know you're a witch." she said quickly **

**My eyebrows shot up "So he knows about the supernatural world, that would explain a lot." **

**She shook her head "No I don't think he does, I mean I think he knows something, he said he's going to try and find out what's wrong with us. I don't think he has any idea what's going on though." **

**That raised even more questions, this could get interesting. **

"**Don't hurt him." Bella said as if reading my mind **

"**Why would you care?" I asked "He's a vampire, I thought you hated him?" **

"**I don't know...I just don't want you to hurt him okay." she said **

**I looked sideways at Zarbien then nodded "Fine if it'll make you happy, maybe just some harmless torture, maybe he'd be better off with a face not so pretty." **

**Bella's face paled to my own skin colour **

"**Only joking." I smiled **

**Her face was a mixture of extreme anger and relief; inside my mind Zarbien was laughing. **

"**Don't hurt Edward...or Charlie." Bella said sounding almost out of breath **

"**Your father will be too busy babbling about that stupid trip to the beach your off to tomorrow anyway." I said absentmindedly **

"**You don't honestly think I'm going on that do you?" she exclaimed **

**I shrugged "You're little human buddies are all going." **

"**The ocean Anastasia," she said as if I were mad "The Ocean full of water monsters." **

**I shrugged "You go around with those human friends of yours a lot, maybe by being their little lap dog you make a whole **_**cult**_** of human friends, starting at the beach." I said making sure my dislike of humans was evident **

**Bella looked a little hurt "I'm not like that and who could I possibly meet down at the beach who would be of any evident importance?" **


	32. A Snap of the Past

**Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Scorpius **

**This chapter is giving a glimpse behind Anastasia's cruelty. I was planning to let it reveal further in time but I have decided to show it now because I do not wish for her to become a potentially disliked character. **

**Bpov**

I walked into my room feeling rather shaken. I usually felt this way after an accident or some kind of bizarre adventure Anastasia was always getting me into.

I shut the curtains as it began to get dark and couldn't bring myself to do any work or talk to anyone, I felt too worried.

Anastasia had sort of threatened Edward, she said she was joking and I was pretty sure she was but for some reason still felt worried. That was one of the things that was bugging me, why was I so afraid for Edward Cullen? I'd only known him since I moved to Forks and yet I was already protecting him whilst he was prying into our business. I just had this weird feeling and knew I couldn't let Anastasia hurt him. As far as I knew class-two vampires couldn't hypnotise people – I had made Anastasia specifically look it up – but he was really jumbling up my senses.

I sighed deciding to make sure Anastasia kept her distance from Edward and Edward kept away from her and our secret for his own good. I thought about it and could have laughed, a vampire with a human bodyguard.

I still felt worried and looking in my mirror I saw I had gone rather pale. I had what I had named Fear-Involving-Supernatural-Persons or FISP for short. I had numerous ways to get rid of this feeling. Some were more drastic than others, but whilst in Forks I had resulted to just three: I had a small trusted potion bottle under my bed which Anastasia gave me, I had a elven self warming blanket which Anastasia had also got me and I had our photo album.

When I was really worried or scared I could always resort to these three tactics. I'd been using them a lot recently with Edward scaring me to death. Some would find them lame but people who lived a hectic lifestyle might understand. I'd been so scared of him killing me the past few weeks however now I was more scared of Anastasia killing _him_.

I sat on my bed and took a swig of Anastasia's potion, suddenly a wave of calmness swept over me and I felt more relaxed. I shut my eyes sucking in the feeling and sat down on my bed with my back against the wall.

I pulled out my elven blanket and wrapped it around my shoulders, I was instantly cosy warm. This cloak could be used anywhere in the world, from arctic winds to absolute zero in temperature and it would still keep the person inside it warm. Elves were pretty crafty when it comes to inventions. It was magic like this that I enjoyed.

I snuggled up against the wall and opened up the photo album. It was an enchanted one, it was large but could hold billions upon billions of pictures without ever filling up.

I flipped through the pages and smiled, there was me and Renee after one of her crazy haircuts – which rarely suited her – and then me and Anastasia, me naturally looking as if I'd just been through a hurricane which was how it was with Anastasia as a child, when she had even less control over her magic.

I had looked at this photo album a thousand times but I still always felt amazed at how young we looked in the pictures, how small.

This album was the only photos I had of Anastasia. Here in Forks there were no pictures of her around the house, another reminder that this household wasn't welcoming her and how badly Charlie wanted her out. Hell it wasn't as if he'd made an effort to hide it, not even giving her a room.

As I progressed through the pictures we got older and pictures of people like Sylvia – the weather witch – came to an end and new friends came into view. A few of my old friends appeared, some of them were boys. Back home I had had several friends who were boys but I'd never seemed to attract any of them, I wondered if the new scenery had changed the way I acted? Maybe with Anastasia less active around here they'd had time to notice me, who knows?

There were some of Anastasia's old friends all of which were mythical. I had used to try and persuade her to make human friends but it never really worked and in the end became worried for their safety. As a witch goes from a girl into a teenager there can be nasty consequences for surrounding humans, I knew this first hand.

I traced my hands along some of her friends, a couple had sort of been mine too. The ones who hanged out at our house a bit. She looked much happier in these pictures and I knew she was lonely here, being so cut off, almost like being separated from your familiar (whatever that must be like). Of course she would rather die than show it, she was very proud, I was a little bit too but unlike me she had the ability to pull it off without making a fool of herself. She could make herself into an emotionless ice burg.

Then I spotted the first picture of Zeke and suddenly the elven blanket didn't feel so warm anymore. Like always when I looked at his picture it seemed as if he were staring right back at me with those jet black eyes with the pure intention of blowing my head off. I sighed looking at it, I had hit the turning point. You wouldn't really be able to tell if you didn't know Anastasia but I knew her better than anyone and I knew that Zeke had changed her.

Anastasia had always been bad, it was just her nature, some people have that and they simply can't help it but Zeke seemed to have opened a door inside her which had changed her, made her colder, angrier, generally less caring. Her dislike for humans had intensified – except me and Renee of course – and she seemed more willing to defend herself as if she were almost worried she were doing something wrong. The weirdest thing was as far as I could tell she didn't even know she was doing it; but I did.

That was why sometimes I hated Zeke, I felt he had kind of stolen my baby sister and made her someone else. Made her more like her father. First I had thought it great that Anastasia had finally fallen for someone, I had begun to think she never would but she did. Unfortunately the guy she picked seemed pretty evil himself and had a feverish effect on her, his general attitude rubbing off on her like some kind of disease. You could tell by looking at the photographs.

I had once suggested that maybe he wasn't the guy for her and it hadn't ended well. She was absolutely positive she was in love with him, maybe she was, I was just really starting to wish she wasn't, I wanted the old Anastasia back, my Anastasia, my baby sister.

I continued to flick through until we came to the last few pictures which included farewells to friends and Renee. There was one which was a picture of the poltergeist in our house, the main reason we had to leave, Anastasia said she just had to get a shot of it. I smiled remembering, there was still a good lot of the old Anastasia left. When she really wanted to be she could be sort of friendly, sort of funny, sort of free.

Just in my mind then I looked back at Forks school and did spot something unusual, a bit of a glimpse of old Anastasia. It sort of shone out when she was hanging around with Scorpius, maybe hanging around with him would relieve all the loneliness I could tell she building, maybe he could help, I decided to talk to him.

I had come to a resolution, Anastasia was going too far, choking innocent boys, draining blood from innocent fathers, threatening to torture hopefully innocent vampires. She had to be stopped and I had officially tried and failed. I knew it would take someone magical to solve the problem, I knew Anastasia would listen to no-one else, so why not a warlock? 


	33. Who to Ask

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Scorpius **

**Epov**

I sat at the piano playing a few notes for a song I had composed. I liked to make up my own songs, I had a good century's worth of practise behind me. I was not in a good mood although Esme seemed to think I was, purely because I was playing piano; something I hadn't done in a while.

I had received bad news, Charlotte and Peter were coming to town. They were vampires but not the kind us lot were, they weren't vegetarians. My heart sunk at the image of Peter who was like Jasper and couldn't control himself easily.

I kept worrying about Bella. I had started to just accept what was happening to me, I was falling head over heels in love with Bella, a human, a defenceless clumsy human and there was nothing I could do about it.

I thought about her and started contemplating their secret again what could it be? They obviously weren't vampires or werewolves or anything so what were they hiding? Were they protecting something else? Chief Swan had never thought anything bad about his daughter. Theories spun through my head each of which I discarded as soon as I thought of them. Bella seemed too innocent and kind to be anything evil.

My worst fear was that she knew I was a vampire. What she had said at school had unnerved me. I couldn't possibly tell my family she knew or even that I just _suspected_ she might know, that would be as good as me signing her death warrant.

I moved my hands further down the piano moving into lower notes. Her death had been swimming through my head too, I had thought of a million ways she could die, more. They just kept coming, car crashes, get attack by a wild animal, catch fire, drown, fall out of a window, catch an illness one of a billion diseases plaguing this earth. I'd never focused on how truly fragile humans were until now, it were as if they were little glass figures if they fell they would shatter into a million pieces.

My fingers ran across the notes as Emmett thought about hunting which was the focus for the weekend and Rose sent general bad thoughts in my direction.

I had finally figured out Rose's problem with Bella, as always it was to do with vanity, she was insulted that I found a human – _any_ human – more attractive than her. I personally found this rather funny but was kind enough not to let the rest of the family in on her secret.

I turned to Emmett "Who do you think could give us answers on those girls, Bella and her sister?"

"I don't know maybe Bella and her sister?" he said sarcastically

I sighed "They won't tell, Bella doesn't even like me and I've never so much as communicated with her sister"

"Well there you go" said Emmett

I tilted his head reading his mind, he wanted me to talk to Bella's sister?

"Well she's never met you before so she shouldn't hate you should she? Maybe she'll tell you" Emmett said shrugging

"Yeah but Bella has met me, I expect she mentioned me to her" I said. Those sisters seemed pretty close, I must have been at least mentioned.

_People tend to talk about us _said a voice much like Rosalie's. She was listening in on the conversation, nosy. 

"Bella will have told her sister bad things about me, whatever she assumes is bad about me" I said crossing Bella's sister off the mental list I was preparing inside my brain "Besides I want to know _soon_ and due to weather we shouldn't be going back to school till Wednesday"

I hated the vampire skin which shone like diamonds, it was so irritating, still it was better than the classic vampire trait of bursting into flames.

"Well then why don't you try asking Peter and Charlotte, maybe they can help" said Emmett

I stared at him scanning for sarcasm. There was no way in hell I was letting Peter and Charlotte anywhere near Bella or any of her family members. If I told them how amazing Bella's scent was they'd be all over her like a swarm of bees in a honey factory. Alice's future image of Bella lying dead flashed through my head like a horror clip and I froze piano playing stopping mid line.

I changed my mind "Bella's sister it is"


	34. Fairies and Potions

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia, Scorpius and Zeke **

**Apov**

It was a day off from school, that was a relief, although to be true feeling as I did I would have taken the day off school whether it was a school day or not. Bella had wandered off somewhere which left me at home alone how I liked it.

Eventually her mad father wandered home brandishing a large fish like some kind of caveman. I hated fish, I wasn't a vegetarian but I still hated them.

When Bella came back her jeans were soaked almost up to her knees and her hair was in a tangle as if she'd been running. She was also sprinkled all over with fairy dust which looked like a layer of multicoloured sparkling dust.

"Where have you been?" I asked as she tried to brush it off

"I went for a walk...in the woods" she said

"You went for a walk in the woods early in the morning all by yourself?" I frowned this didn't sound Bella

"I had a nightmare, I needed to get out" she said

"In the forest?"

"I know I know it's full of fairies, they chased me" she said irritably wriggling her jeans leaving a pile of dust on the floor "How do humans who don't know about your world not notice them and all this stuff, I am covered in it?"

I smiled she did look pretty ridiculous but rather colourful at the same time.

Most types of fairies are invisible to humans. The small forest dwelling types which I expect Bella had encountered had sharp teeth and bit at human's hair for their nests. The humans never noticed – because the invisible fairy dust enchanted them – but whenever they come out of a fairy infested forest they had less hair than before. Then a thought hit me.

"Bella just out of interest this nightmare you say you had...it didn't involve Zeke did it, or Scorpius?" I asked

She shook her head "No neither of them, why?"

"No reason" I said shaking off the thought then grinned "You just be glad you didn't get attacked by something bigger, humans go missing in the forest nobody even notices" I said "What if there had been an angry elf infestation there, they have large scale memory charms for all the humans in nearby villages"

She stared at me eyes wide and I grinned. She left the room clearly unsure whether I was joking or not. I nuzzled down with my spell book and some ingredients for potions.

Seeing the fairy dust lying on the floor I decided to do a potion, I hadn't done one for a while. Bella had made me promise to not do any in her father's house because he didn't understand magic. In my opinion this was a stupid excuse, I had done them all the time back home and our mother didn't know about magic, in my opinion even Bella didn't understand magic but I knew if I said that she'd just start some long tedious speech to attempt to prove me wrong.

I decided to be a bit adventurous after all an average explosion wouldn't kill me just blow up Bella's father's distasteful living room, it desperately needed redecorating anyway.

I pulled out my portable cauldron and started sticking ingredients which I had in my one unopened suitcase. My suitcase could hold much more than a human suitcase and much more toxic things. I had smuggled this under Bella's nose and through airport security.

I decided to do a spell which included fairy dust after all Bella had just trailed a lot into the house. Why leave it to waste?

I tossed things in, plants herbs and other elements, sparks went flying and the carpet got scorched with every overflowing drop. A faint gas started to float around the room misting up the windows and turned all Bella's father's family photographs a funny shade of purple.

After half an hour Bella's father walked in probably attracted by the spell.

"What are you doing?" he exclaimed looking around the room which was now in chaos, most of the furniture scorched.

"Are there you are, good I need some human ingredients" I said cheerily

He stared at me all the blood draining from his face "Oh my God you really are..."

I grinned, I'd been in the scenario numerous times and he almost always said that and pulled that expression of dawning horror.

I stood up and my eyes flashed as I did a vague hand gesture. He stared at me for a second then his face went blank and his body sagged slightly. I was no enchantress but humans were so easy to hypnotise. Not Bella though, she knew too much.

I pulled out some scissors and cut off some of his hair throwing it into the cauldron. Then some blood, I decided to be generous to my potion. That should about do it, I knew Bella would be mad if I did anything worse.

I sent him away and finished the spell. I held up the potion, nice. It was a Potion of Loathing. For whoever drank it would feel repulsion for whoever the giver of the drink commanded.

Now I had just had to find two good candidates. Who did I want to hate each other?


	35. A Sunny Day

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia **

**Bpov**

The next day it was sunny, my kind of day. I looked out at the sun shining off the trees and sighed content. I felt like the vampire burden had been pulled off my shoulders, more than half the species of vampire couldn't come out in daylight and almost all showed some reaction.

Time to go to school. When it was sunny I could function better and it generally put me in a brighter mood. I headed downstairs to force Anastasia to wake up and drag her out the door.

I walked down the stairs and my mouth fell open.

"Anastasia" I shouted and she sat up suddenly from the sofa Zarbien's hair rising

"What is this?" I demanded indicating the living room which was in disarray, a lot of the wallpaper stained and sizzled and a fair bit of the carpet scorched. Half the ornaments – not that their were many – were broken, several of the pillows had exploded in masses of feathers resting on the grass like snow and I could see her cauldron and a rubble of magical ingredients lying carelessly on the floor.

"Oh..." she said looking at it

"Well?" I demanded

"I can explain" she said

"Can you?" I said incredulously

She hesitated she'd always been good at lying and making up excuses but this would be one hell of a thing to cover up and I'd known Anastasia all her life

"No, no not really" she said eventually

"You promised, you promised you wouldn't make any potions whilst we were here" I moaned

"Look I can fix it" she said "_Halar ashina_". She started indicating things with her fingers and they began to repair themselves feathers flying back into cushions which repaired themselves, stained vanishing from the walls as if they never were, the scorched carpet reforming like grass growing in fast motion.

Eventually the room looked as it had been when I last saw it and my sister's last spell was to telekinetically put her cauldron and ingredients away.

She gave me a guilty smile. I took this as a good sign for she didn't smile often. I forgave her at this, the weather had put me in a good enough mood to let it go. Besides for once she had only damaged the living room and not a person.

I walked out the room as she sent one last spell to reform the large mirror on one wall which was cracked with some shards on the floor like pieces of glitter.

I found Charlie who was eating his breakfast he looked at me.

"I heard you yelling at Anastasia" he observed

"Oh it was nothing" I said "Don't worry"

"I'm not worrying" he said "That girl deserves everything she gets and worse"

I sighed and changed the subject "It's a nice day out"

"Yes" he agreed looking out the window "Your kind of day. You're my sunny little girl"

I flushed, I hated it when he treated me like a three year old.

"Not like the vile creature poisoning my living room" he added with a venomous look through the door

I rolled my eyes. Sometimes I thought Anastasia and I should have just chanced the poltergeist rather than live with this friction between her and Charlie. We could have stayed with mom, we could have stayed with friends. Lots of plusses. Although on the minus side Phil would be dead.

After breakfast Anastasia and I headed to school she wandered off with Zarbien pretty quick, I on the other hand sat down on my jacket for a bit looking up at the sunshine. I saw people walking around in T-shirts and shorts although the temperature couldn't be over sixty. I wondered how the vampires were faring in this weather.

"Bella!" I heard a voice call

My mind instantly flicked to Anastasia and for some unknown reason turned expecting to see her. Instead it was Mike in khaki shorts and a striped rugby shirt waving. I imagined Anastasia in similar clothes and laughed out loud.

"What?" asked Mike as he sat by me

"Nothing, nothing" I said regaining myself "It's a great day"

"Sunny, a welcome change" he said looking up at the sky

"You have no idea" I said smiling

"What did you do yesterday?" he asked

"Homework mainly" I said and meant to meant to speak about my essay but instead other words fell out of my mouth they were "Is Edward Cullen here today?"

Mike frowned as I wondered why I had said that. He shook his head.

"I haven't seen him. Him and his family often take sunny days off. They can be rather strange" he said

I felt my lip twitching, you have no idea Mike.

Well that was one mystery solved, type two vampires couldn't tolerate sunlight. Maybe they turned to dust in it, who knows? I felt relief of course, Edward was away from me and my sister. We were safe from him, he was safe from Anastasia, everybody was safe and yet for some reason I felt disappointed. I felt almost like I wanted him to be there. My rational mind which I had used to co-exist with the supernatural for seventeen years was furiously asking what the hell I thought I was doing.

I spent the day pondering a little over this but my thoughts were interrupted by Jessica, Angela and Lauren who were talking about going to Port Angeles dress shopping for the dance tonight. I of course didn't need a dress because there was no way in a million years that I was going to the dance but hey it might be nice to hang out for some humans. Edward wouldn't be any trouble because he was, I assumed, locked up away from the sun and so eventually gave her a maybe.

The lessons passed and at lunch I looked towards the Cullen's table purely out of routine. What if Mike had just missed the Cullens? What if they could walk in sunlight like type 16, 5, 4 and god knows how many others? However when I looked the table was empty. I was getting paranoid again, I would make a rubbish bodyguard that's for sure.

Jessica called off the shopping trip which was in many ways a relief because apparently Mike had asked her out to dinner, at least he got there eventually. Unfortunately she scheduled it tomorrow and I was running out of excuses. In the end I gave in, if I didn't go out eventually I'd end up as one of those humans who because they no so much they shouldn't, they lock themselves away from the rest of the apparently oblivious world. No that wasn't going to be me no matter how much Anastasia wanted it.

When I got home I started dinner I thought about fish but then remembered Anastasia didn't like them so went for chicken instead. I checked my e-mail and saw some messages from mom. I replied realising how worried she got.

_Mom, _

_Sorry. We've both been out. I had to write a paper and you know how Anastasia is with e-mails_ _we're fine and so Zarbien_ _we're sorry we couldn't write sooner._

These excuses were rather pathetic.

_It's sunny outside today – I know. We're shocked, too – so I'm going to go outside and soak up as much vitamin D as I can. We love you. _

_Bella and Anastasia_

I decided to head outside to do some reading in the sun but was interrupted as I was about to walk in the living room. Well not interrupted per say but when I saw what was going on I stopped dead in the doorframe.

Anastasia looked was sitting on the sofa with Zarbien looking shocked and very very happy and it was soon clear why as I looked towards what she was staring at.


	36. Mirror Mirror

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Scorpius **

**Apov**

I walked into the house feeling potentially pleased with myself, I had virtually mastered setting seven different trees alight with Scorpius's blue fire. Who said it was too complicated. Give it a few months and maybe i could set fire to as many as he could.

However now I was bored and sat down in the living room rubbing my eyes. I didn't feel in the mood to study my spell book or talk to anyone in particular.

What to do? I thought

_You could get me some chicken_ Zarbien replied looking hopeful

I gave him a look and he scowled.

_Fine_ he said snootily and walked off indignantly to the kitchen with his tail held high

My lip twitched slightly as I watched him disappear. It's not everyday you see a cat go off in a huff.

I gave a stretch and pulled off my black jacket hanging it on the side of the sofa. I looked in the full long length mirror on the wall at myself and pulled a comb through my long straight black hair.

It had been a relatively hot day at least for Forks it had and Bella's father wasn't going to be home for a while so I pulled off my black T-shirt and tossed it onto the floor giving my body some air pulling up one of my bra straps back up to my shoulder.

I looked back up to the mirror pulling my knees up to my body. My image was smiling back at me.

"You don't have to stop there you know" it said

I gave a jump in alarm and slowly my imaged changed hair shortening to just past my shoulders eyes going jet black a long trench coat wrapped around my body. My mouth fell open as I stared at the whole new figure before me.

"Zeke!" I shouted

"The one and only" he replied

I could only stare at him. Was I imagining him? Was I fantasizing?

"Oh-Oh my God how-how did you break the network? I thought you're not allowed communication at Darkhalls?" I said confused and thrilled

"You're not. But this is me we're talking about so I think we can both make the exception" he smirked

I put a hand to my mouth taking in his face, his pale conplexure, his dark features, so familiar. I bit my lip emotions shooting through me by the dozen. I could hardly believe it was him. He must have gotten through the reflection network, that was not permitted. No-one including Zeke generally broke the law for they had one hell of a family reputation to uphold, what would they do if they found out Zeke had done this just to talk to me?

"Where are you?" he asked

"In my sister's father's house" I said giving the living room a brief glance

"The human?" he said with evident distaste

I nodded. He'd never liked humans, his whole family were rather prejudiced against them but I'd managed to persuade Zeke to get past it a bit, with Bella and my mother anyway.

A dark shape slithered over Zeke's shoulder and round his neck. Zeke's familiar, a long black snake bigger than a python with slits for eyes and fangs sharper than a vampires.

Zeke smiled down at it.

"And Ivoros sends his greetings too" he added

I smiled knowing Zeke's familiar had never liked me. He still hadn't got over the fact that I had a human mother.

"What's going on at Darkhalls?" I asked "What's it like there?"

I had asked this question several times during his first year there when he came back in the holidays but I wanted to know again.

He gave me a run down of everything, we talked for over an hour at least, we didn't bother to talk about Forks, hell what was there to talk about? When he asked which was obviously just to be gentlemanlike – all Zeke's family were brought up like that since they were so high in upper-class magical society – I merely replied that I was dying of magic lack briefly explaining my situation.

He shook his head "I couldn't do it, I simply couldn't. I would have run away in less than a week"

I smiled "I did consider it but Bella would have slowed me down too much"

"You'd just leave her behind" he shrugged

"Zeke we've been over this Bella's my sister, she knows about magic and is not your everyday dim-witted human" I said firmly

"Yeah yeah if you say so" he said dismissively

At this point Zarbien walked into the room now in the form of a lion with a full sized chicken in his jaws. He looked towards the mirror and his eyes widened.

_How did he contact us? _

'I don't know and I don't care' I replied

_Well tell him hello from me _

Zarbien seemed to approve of Zeke and although Zeke's familiar may not be the biggest fan of me he had definitely made friends with Zarbien which was one good thing.

I was now right up next to the mirror and felt the urge to brush my fingers across it so as to touch his face which I had wanted to do for so long, but didn't because this was real life and not a cheap romance movie.

Still the temptation to have him here was tremendous.

At that point I heard the door open and spun round shooting out a hand, it slammed shut as I locked it with magic. Zarbien transformed into a cat fast.

"Hey what's going on" came Bella's father's voice from outside banging on the door. I rolled my eyes.

"What _is_ going on?" asked Zeke curiously from the mirror

"Sister's father trying to break in" I said apologetically

Zeke's familiar gave a hiss and although I couldn't understand him could imagine what he wanted me to do to Bella's father. It wasn't pretty.

Then suddenly Bella ran out from the other doorway towards the front door.

"Anastasia let him in" she said

"Were you spying on me?" I said indignantly

"Later let Charlie in. Wrap it up with Zeke okay" she said trying full hardedlt to unlock the door. When she touched it it gave off an electric shock, the same on her fathers side, bonus.

I laughed out loud "You wish, I'm talking to Zeke for as long as I like. Your excuse for a father will have no say in it"

This communication could actually take up the whole night, if I had a say in it I would just like him to step through the God damn mirror and appear before me in person.

"Bella" came her father's voice again "Bella unlock the door"

"He'll freeze to death out there it's getting dark and cold" she implored

"Your point being?" I asked and Bella glared at me

"Anastasia, get your clothesback on and open the door, now!" she hissed

I looked down at myself and realised I hadn't put my T-shirt back on. I leant down and pulled my T-Shirt over my head once more then turned to Bella.

"He can use the back door tell him this one's broken" I said turning back to Zekeknowing that human would swallow any excuse his daughter gave him.

Bella read her gullible father some story which he seemed to swallow like the idiot he was, it wasn't even a good excuse. Any idiot would know that this door was not broken and with Bella's uncreative voice only he would not notice the lies woven into it. How he succeeded as a police officer I will never know.

I turned back to Zeke as she left to meet him round the back of the house.

"I would have knocked him out cold" Zeke said pointedly

"I know" I nodded "But you don't have a sister"

"True" he agreed but I could tell he didn't care

We talked some more, some of which I made sure Bella wasn't eavesdropping, nosy sister. But as the saying goes all good things must come to an end.

"I wish I could talk to you for longer, well I wish I could talk to you pretty much all night but soon people are going to come in and even _I_ will not be permitted to be using the reflection network in Darkhalls" he said

My heart sunk like that badly built human boat the Titanic taken down by a group of hypnotic ice witches.

"When can I talk to you again?" I asked trying to mask my disappointment. All my defences went down when I talked to Zeke.

He shook his head "I don't think I'll be able to pull this off again. My family will kill me if I'm caught and people know about this" at this point he pointed to his face "Future of the family honour on my shoulders"

Stupid family honour I thought and I felt sympathy in the direction of Zarbien. Usually I hated sympathy but now I felt I kind of deserved it.

"Goodbye" he said. His voice was almost impossible to read and his black eyes were as always just endless pools of infinite darkness but behind the impassiveness I was sure he was sad, I certainly was.

"Wait" I said suddenly making Zarbien jump slightly he had had no warning for I had spoken without thinking "I-I want you to know I really missed you"

I wouldn't have said that to anyone but Zeke and Zarbien. Not even Bella. In front of Zeke though my vulnerability could just shine out of me as all my control was lost in a range of new feelings.

He smiled "I missed you too"

His image faded away to be replaced with mine.

"I love you" I said but was only staring at my own longing reflection.


	37. Interrogation

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Scorpius **

**Epov **

I drove up to Forks school in my Volvo alone as it came up to lunch break. My family had remained at home they still thought it was too sunny to come today. They were probably right as I looked in the wing mirror and saw little pinpricks of light dancing on my face. I should have stayed home but I needed to know this secret, I needed to know now.

I listened to myself I sounded paranoid, very paranoid but if anyone could tell me I was pretty sure her sister could.

I had promised my annoyed family which had put up a whole nights argument about this that I wouldn't go to lessons and risk my cover being blown. I would purely go to school for an hour tops to have this conversation they get right back.

I parked my Volvo away from all the other cars – mine stood out a little and I didn't want the knowledge that I was at school spread round – and parked it against the brick wall front first under the two story balcony. I stuck to the shadows so as to minimize any shine radiating off me tapping my fingers waiting for the lunch bell to ring.

My mission was to find Bella's sister, it shouldn't be too hard in a school as small as this especially with my super sensitive vampire senses.

When the bell went I started my mission scaling the school for her. I thought about asking her whereabouts from some students in her year but decided against it not knowing who were her friends. They didn't seem surprised at all that I wasn't talking to them. Most of them thought me and my family considered ourselves above everybody else.

Instead I stayed out of sight as much as possible avoiding corridors with lots of windows which would let sunlight hit my skin.

I soon picked up her scent on the second floor. Her scent was so weird, not appealing like her sisters just...weird, I'd never smelled anything like it. Well that boy in her year Septimus or Scorpius or whatever his name was he had had an equally weird scent but it wasn't like hers. Still I wasn't going to put this in my list of questions, I wasn't going to reveal I was a vampire.

I raced up the stairs, she was on the second story part of the school. Most of Forks was just one story it wasn't exactly a new flashy school. She was out on the balcony with her cat, why did that cat follow her everywhere.

I walked up to her trying to keep to the side to avoid being in the sun, trust her to be standing outside. Why were the Swan sisters so annoying?

"Excuse me" I said keeping my voice pleasant

She stood up and turned to me. Her eyes narrowed at me and her cat jumped in front of her. It didn't look happy but no animals like me.

"Yes?" she replied voice as cool as ice

"Hello I'm-"

"Edward" she said sounding impatient "My sister told me about you"

"What did she tell you?" I asked without thinking

The girl looked at me her gaze unfriendly "Too much for my liking. First she seemed to think you disliked her and went on endlessly, now however we have better thing to talk about"

"Um right okay" I said then got on to my point "Anyway that's not what I came here to talk about. I came here to say that Bella seems to be keeping something I think is important from me. Something I think I should know I was just wondering if you had any insight into what that might be. You are her sister I figured you'd know what all this was about"

I tried the tricks I used when I wanted most girls to do what I want just gave them a nice look and usually they melted. This girl however seemed to darken at this and suddenly despite all my vampiric powers I felt that I was in the lower hand of this conversation.

The girl started to walk towards me "What makes you think there's anything?"

My legs felt like they wanted to walk or run away but her gaze kept me rooted to the ground.

"Bella gave me some clue when I talked to her the other day"

"Oh she did did she?" said the girl and I could hear some element of surprise in her voice

That was final confirmation, there was a secret and they were both in on it

"And when that car flew towards Bella something hit me and pushed me away, something I couldn't see and then when I was at your house-" I cut off talking just in time

"You were at our house?" she said sounding angry as her cat gave a hiss

"I was just passing and all these weird sounds came" I said in self defence

"Really, well what do you know, Bella said you were sticking your nose in where it didn't belong, I thought she was just being paranoid but I guess you really are a nosey prat"

I stared at her thoroughly taken aback. All I had asked was if she had a clue what this problem was it's not as if I'd demanded it. Now she was just feet in front of me.

"Now Cullen you are going to back off from me and my sister alone or I swear to all my Gods that you and your 'family'" she said with an air quote "Will really regret coming to Forks, even more than I do. Is that clear?"

She stared at me her eyes fierce and for the briefest of seconds I could have sworn they changed in colour.

She didn't wait for a reply just shoved past me hitting my shoulder towards the door her cat following after her.

"Look come on whatever it is I'm not going to tell anyone" I said sounding like a child

She didn't even turned around just reached to open the door.

That's when I lost me calmness and all the desperation came up. When I was very very stupid.

"Look" I half shouted "I won't tell anyone anything if you tell me now but if you two keep keeping this from me I will get the whole school, the whole town after your secret too!"

I regretted the words the moment they left my mouth.

At this she stopped in the doorway and slowly turned to me and I took a step back against the wall of the balcony just by the look on her face. The wind had picked up significantly.

"You won't be telling anyone anything" she snarled and then threw up both her hands.

I was jolted backwards and went clean over the balcony, I fell down two stories something metal and shiny broke my fall. A car, my car. The siren had gone off as I hit it. I looked upwards as she looked over the railing of the balcony.

She upturned my bag and all my books and papers came flying out fluttering in all directions.

"Go home Cullen" she shouted looking down at me with evident dislike "Maybe this will teach you to keep your nose out of other peoples business"

I gave an inward groan and sat up upon my Volvo which now had a vampire sized dent through the roof.

I called back to her to throw an angry retort and tell her that she was going to pay for this damage to an innocent car – even though I wasn't sure I could explain how she did it – but although my mouth moved to shout no sound came out. I choked out a few more words but the only sound was the ringing siren from the Volvo.

I couldn't talk! 


	38. Speechless

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia **

**In answer to a reviewers question Bella is not a supernatural she is a human however since she knows so much about the supernatural world – which in this story is a lot bigger than in the original Twilight – she is more resistant to hypnosis, mind control and mind readers than other humans. She also has several protective charms placed over her by Anastasia, not all of which she knows about. **

**But this chapter is not about Bella or Anastasia it is about the Cullens **

My family were away round the house. Jasper and Emmett had got into a fight and were tearing up one of Esme gardens. Edward on the other hand had decided to go to school despite the sunlight which although wasn't strong was enough to convince the rest of us to not go around in public. I did not wish to participate in any of these events and so retired upstairs to one of the sofas.

I was looking at the image of the next big sale in two days. My heart would be beating a mile a minute if it were fully functional. I needed some new shirts and jeans and skirts and pretty much one of everything on the left side of the store.

I would need to take Jasper along with me, I may have vampire super strength but it would look suspicious and I only have two hands.

I was enjoying this image but then a flash of Edward interrupted, he was driving his Volvo up to the house. But something was wrong with this image, the most obvious was that the roof of his Volvo was smashed in as if a small boulder had fallen on top of it, the second was that Edward looked livid. I could tell this vision was going to be put to action very soon so got up and headed for the front door.

I met Edward as he was walking towards the door looking very frustrated. I looked towards his Volvo in the drive, it was just as battered as it had been in my vision. Edward stood before me.

"What...what happened to you're Volvo?" I asked

Edward held up a notebook and flicked to one of the first pages were the words '_I can't talk' _

I from the notebook to him "Why?"

He flicked to the next page which read '_Bella's sister did something'_

"What?" I said

'_I don't know' _read the next page

"So you can't talk?" I said incredulously

Edward nodded

"You've got to be joking" I said giving him a look "That's just too weird"

Edward gave me a look then flicked through his notebook to a page which read _'Where is Carlisle?' _

"He's inside, he just got back" I said quickly but Edward had already vanished at vampire speed into the house.

I turned round to look after him. What was going on, was this some kind of joke? I walked over to his Volvo and inspected the damage. As far as I knew all Edward had gone to do at school was talk to Bella's sister but what had done this, surely not the girl I had seen with Bella. I brushed my hand along the roof standing on my tiptoes, I wasn't the tallest person, sort of pixie-like really.

I went back into the house to the living room where I found Carlisle and Esme sitting on one sofa, Rosalie on another and Edward standing the middle of the room brandishing the note book at Carlisle.

Esme and Carlisle looked confused, Edward looked distressed and Rosalie looked rather amused.

"Well Edward with any other patient I would say if they landed on their neck it could have easily affected their vocal systems, landing on your back all I could think of is the shock of the fall but that would hardly effect you" Carlisle said

"You fell on the car?" I exclaimed

Edward ignored me pulling a thick black pen from his pocket and started writing hurriedly.

'_You have to do something, you're a doctor!'_

"I get the feeling this may be out of medical hands" Carlisle said apologetically

'_I will not stay a mute forever'_ Edward wrote his face very determined

An image of Jasper and Emmett walking into the room hit my brain. Oh no, this was gonna be trouble.

"Maybe its temporary" Esme said sounding very upset "You can't lose your voice, you have such a lovely musical voice"

The door burst open and Emmett bounded in as predicted. Emmett had a grin across his face looking very pleased.

He strode over to Rose grinning ear to ear "Hey honey you will pleased to know that I officially kicked Jasper's ass, who is your knight in shining armour?"

Rose kissed him. Jasper walked in afterwards face almost expressionless but I knew my husband well enough to know that he was reserving his anger for their next match which he would ensure would come soon and would end in his favour.

Jasper looked at the scene "So what's going on here?" he asked no doubt sensing Edwards distress

Edward shook his head at us clearly not wanting this new found problem spread around. Unfortunately Rose didn't share this opinion.

"Edward can't talk, he's lost his voice" she said pleasantly as if this was the most ordinary thing in the world

Jasper and Emmett stared at him "What?" they said simultaneously

Edward scowled and looked away as Emmett burst out laughing. Jasper looked at me for confirmation and I nodded.

"Your seriously telling us you lost your voice?" Emmett laughed

Edward gave a barely perceptible nod with gritted teeth.

"Oh this is classic" said Emmett "Hey Edward stay quiet if you think you only beat me because you can read my mind"

Edward flicked to the back of the notebook and held up a page 'Shut up Emmett' it read. I could have laughed, Edward had already planned that Emmett would take a cheap shot.

"This is no time for jokes Emmett" said Esme

I thought this a stupid statement, with Emmett it was always time for jokes.

"We need to fix this" she continued

"Why we could do with some peace and quiet around here" chuckled Emmett

Edward started writing in his notebook and held it up '_Why are we getting rid of you at last?'_

"Oh cold" Emmett replied

"So you think Bella's sister did this to you?" Carlisle asked and Edward nodded

"Bella's sister?" said Jasper sounding confused

"You know the one with dark hair in the year below" I reminded him

"Yeah I know who she is but how could she do this to you?" he frowned

Edward shrugged his shoulders holding out his hands to indicate he didn't know.

"Edward I highly doubt it was Bella's sister, that's impossible" I said looking at logic.

Edward began writing '_I was talking to her and then something invisible knocked me over the balcony and then I couldn't speak'_

"Maybe you tripped" Emmett teased as Edward glared at him

'_And she looked down on me and yelled_ _"Maybe this will teach you to keep your nose out if other people's business"_

"Oh get told Edward" smiled Emmett

'_Can you just go away?' _Edward wrote

"Look" I said before the two of them really got going "Why didn't you go and talk to Bella's sister after this happened, if you really think it's her"

Edward flicked to another readily written page. _'I did but I couldn't find her I think she left school'_

"You could try her house?" Carlisle suggested

Edward seemed to hesitate then wrote _'Last time I went to their house it didn't end so well' _

"Edward what are you talking about?" I asked

He sighed a silent sigh looking one more time at our expectant faces then just stormed out of the room breaking the door handle as he left the room.

We all looked at each other we were all looking perplexed and at a bit of a loss except Emmett who looked quite pleased.

"This is gonna been fun" he said grinning after Edward


	39. A List of Options

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Scorpius **

**Bpov**

Anastasia never showed up at the end of school and after waiting a while got in my truck and headed off alone, it wasn't the first time she'd left me alone at the end of school.

When I got home as usual I found Anastasia on the living room sofa with Zarbien. There was a fire crackling and she had a sheet of paper in front of her and a pen in her hand. She looked up at my arrival and Zarbien turned back into a huge black-maned lion.

"Where were you?" I asked shutting the door

"Contemplating" she replied

I decided against asking what, her contemplating almost always included complicated hazardous magic to which I tried to steer clear. I decided just to go up to my room. Anastasia however seemed to have other plans.

"Come here" she said

I went over she was a year younger than me but I was used to her bossing me about.

"What is it" I asked warily

"The Cullen boy" she said

"Edward?" I said tensing

She nodded looking at her sheet of paper.

"What about him? He wasn't even at school today, I think it was because of the sun" I said

"He was at school, he came up and asked me what our secret was as if I would tell him, idiot" she said as Zarbien walked round the room in lion form pacing.

"What did you do to him?" I said automatically a thrill of fear for him going up my spine. I still wasn't sure why I was getting these feelings but they were driving me nuts.

"Nothing serious just threw him off a balcony" she said looking down at the paper.

I felt relief at this sure since he was a vampire he would be fine. But much more than that I felt a great thrill of terror that he would now definitely know we had a secret.

"Do you think he'll tell everyone?" I asked voice shaking

She shook her head "He won't be telling anyone anything if he knows what's good for him" she said and continued before I could question her further on this "The point is what to do about him. I have drawn up a list if you care to read"

She held out the piece of paper which I took and read carefully.

_Kill him _

_Find a powerful with or warlock who could turn him into a toad or another creature of little threat_

_Put him in a coma to which he will never wake _

_Give him to some other magical beings e.g. elven slave trade or magical science guinea pig _

_Snap his wits so he is permanently brain damaged – note this may not work on a class two vampire _

_Frame him and get him thrown in a vampire jail_

_Wipe his memory and send him very far away _

I looked up at her from this list, she'd been busy.

"What do you fancy?" she asked

I was surprised but a little pleased she wanted my opinion.

"Well your seventh one looks pretty good, but I don't like the idea of sending him far away" I said

She frowned "Why not?"

"Err..." I said unable to fully answer

Thankfully Anastasia didn't seem to care "You know I don't really like that one either, in fact option four looks pretty interesting to me, you can make a good profit doing it"

"What slave trade!" I exclaimed

She nodded "Yeah it's a real money spinner, if you give two beings in I could get enough to buy that diamond magical potion set I wanted did you know it can double your potions effectiveness?"

"One you are not sending Edward into slave trade, two your potions are dangerous enough as it is and three you don't even have two beings to give" I said firmly

"I know but I did have this certain human in mind..." she trailed off

I didn't wait to hear which poor human she disliked would face this horrible fate if she did decide to go forward with it.

"No!" I growled

"Alright alright sheesh" she said holding up a hand "I suppose it is illegal and would probably take too long, if we got caught I would be punished and you'd be killed"

I went rigid at this then finally said "Four is off the table"

She nodded "Alright so which other?" she said leaning to look at the list still in my hands

"Could I offer one of my own?" I said

She and Zarbien exchanged a glance and I could tell they didn't think I could come up with a good idea.

"How about you just memory wipe him, you know hypnotise him" I said innocently

"I already put that" she said pointing to number seven on the list

"Yeah but why send him away?"

"He's a class two vampire, they're really strong he would probably remember sooner or later" she shrugged "Safer to just send him off to the Himalayas"

I stared at her and she shrugged with a teasing smile "He's a vampire, he wouldn't feel the cold"

I sighed as the doorbell rung. I turned surprised, who could that be? Charlie wasn't due home yet, he had to work late and he didn't need to ring the doorbell to get in the house, Anastasia was already here and obviously so was I. Who was at our door?


	40. Two Visitors

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephanie Meyer – except Anastasia and Scorpius **

**Bpov**

I looked towards the hall then at Anastasia.

Anastasia didn't look particularly bothered she seemed far more interested in her list and was by the looks of it was telepathically in conversation with the still pacing Zarbien.

I debated whether to get up and answer it. Anastasia spared me glance.

"Just ignore it" she said at my indecision

"Who do you think it is?" I asked

"Don't know don't care" Anastasia replied "Now lets get back to the list"

After one last look towards the hall I turned back. Whoever it was they would go away eventually.

"So seven that's what I want seven" I said firmly "A simple clean permanent memory wipe without the sending him away from Forks or his family – or at least his vampire group, whatever you call a gathering of vampires"

"I suppose we could do seven. I could buy a strong memory charm to put on him, one any kind of vampire would be powerless to...." Anastasia said considering

"Yeah" I said relieved

The doorbell rung again.

"Ignore it" repeated Anastasia though I could tell it was annoying her too. Her hearing was better than mine so the doorbell must be a pain. "Anyway, if we do that we would have to pay money and I don't mean stealing from your father which I would be more than happy to do. I mean proper magical currency. I'm the only one that has that and I am not spending my cash over an idiotic vampire"

My shoulders sagged "Don't you have anyone that owes you a favour?" I improvised ignoring the comment about Charlie's cash.

"Yes but I'm not going to waste any of those favours on Edward" she said brushing a few black locks out of her pale face. I knew I would have to do some bargaining.

I sighed "I will let you practice potions in the living room provided you do blow it up or seriously hurt anyone. Deal?"

Anastasia's eyebrow rose looking tempted her eyes drawn to her suitcase full of potion ingredients which she had promised not to use.

She shook her head no doubt knowing from experience she could get more "No"

"And next time you do something non-fatal to Charlie I promise to let it pass, deal I will let you practice potions in the living room provided you do blow it up or seriously hurt anyone. Final offer" I said felling like a terrible daughter at this proposition and the thought that I was doing this for Edward of all people just added to the weight of guilt and confusion.

She nodded "Done"

"Good so who are you going to get it from"

"Not here, I'd need to go back to phoenix" she said "Or somewhere else"

"Can't you get there some magical way?" I said knowing she wouldn't take a plane. She and Zarbien had made it quite clear he was never to enter a cat cage on a plane again.

Anastasia nodded "Yes but not on such short notice, you need invites to take the tree-nymph network, I don't have the power or license to magically fly yet so no, not tonight" she said

"But we need it _now_" I said imploringly "We need Edward to forget us by tomorrow latest"

Anastasia sighed clearly thinking I was being paranoid which I probably was "I guess I could get one somewhere closer if I pulled some strings, maybe in Port Angeles...Zarbien could probably get me there tomorrow"

I didn't want to wait until tomorrow, I could see an angry mob of people demanding Anastasia's banishment from Forks, I wanted Edward to forget our secret right now, for his own good, for his own safety as well as ours. Do you though? A part of my body seemed to say to me. My mind did a whirl as I felt a strange feeling as if it was almost alright that he could find out about it but that was insane that was fatal, for him anyway.

The doorbell rung for a third time.

"Oh just answer the God damn door!" Anastasia said putting her hands over her ears trying to think but I was already getting up and going to the door.

Who was causing such a racket? They had no idea what they were walking in on. This conversation was nothing to do with them, in fact it was nothing to do with their _world_.

I opened the door with some caution, I had experience of strange creatures bursting in to talk or attack Anastasia so I tried to always tried to be ready for whoever was at the door.

Despite all my caution I still jumped in surprise at the two figures before me, I had certainly not expected to see who I saw.

"Jessica? Angela?" I said staring at the two girls as if they aliens.

"Hi, we thought you were out for a minute there" said Jessica

I just stared at them mouth half open as if I were a goldfish "What...what are you doing here?"

"Err hello, the Port Angeles trip, for prom dress shopping remember?" she said

Oh God.

"Oh that" I said failing to make it not obvious that I had completely forgotten

"We talked about it right at the end of school. I was going to drive home with you to drop off your stuff then we'd get Angela but then you said you had to pick up your sister so we decided I'd pick up Angela and then we'd come to you later. Is any of this going in?" Jessica said

She might as well have been speaking troll. Angela was standing quietly in the background looking a little concerned in my direction.

"Um, could you hold on for just one second?" I said and dashed towards the living room leaving them on the porch probably brimming with questions.

I saw Anastasia on the sofa, Zarbien in cat form on her shoulders. Both were looking towards me.

"It's Angela and Jessica, my human friends from school" I hissed

"Yes I heard" she said not sounding interested "Just get rid of them"

"I can't, they want me to go shopping with them" I said

Anastasia gave me a look as if she were concerned for my health.

"Shopping? Bella one day, just one day you are going to get what we supernaturals call a backbone, for crying out loud just tell them to get lost" she said

"But-"

"Bella we have more important things to do than you dancing around god knows where with those two" she said firmly

"They're right at the door" I said desperately

"Bella you get rid of them or I will" she said standing up

"No!" I said instinctively jumping in front of the door to the hall arms outstretched as if she couldn't blast me out the way

Anastasia gave me a disappointed sort of look "Bella. I've remembered someone who can get me a memory potion that could make me a good memory potion. I could get there by tomorrow and be back by evening. They live underground in Port Angeles, at least they used to, now we need to talk away from them"

I heard Jessica's voice from the doorway calling me back.

"Hold on did you say Port Angeles?" I said quickly to Anastasia

"If I didn't there's something wrong with my vocal cords" she said

"That's where they want me to go. You could come too then you could have the potion ready by tomorrow" I said

"Me go with _them_" she said indicating the hall "Fashion obsessed nitwits"

"It's just a car trip" I said in my best persuasive voice which despite my efforts never swayed her.

Today however she seemed lenient. She looked heavenwards but then just nodded.

I ran back to the door in relief.

"I can come guys but there's just one thing" I said

"What?" said Angela

"Can we get a move on. We'll hit traffic if we leave it too late." Jessica said irritably

I personally thought it was impossible to hit traffic within miles of Forks but just said "All I want is for us to give my little sister a ride too. She doesn't want to go shopping just needs a lift to Port Angeles. Please" I said mainly to Jessica whose car we would be taking. Plus Angela wasn't exactly the forceful arguing type.

"Fine let's just hurry this up" Jessica said with unhidden impatience

A coldness filled the hall as Anastasia emerged with a black bag slung over her right shoulder presumably containing whatever this favour required. Jessica and Angela stared as she approached. Anastasia was all in black in witch clothes dressed to kill. Expression cold dark eyes sharp as glaciers. Thankfully she wasn't trying to scare them.

This was why I had made them agree before they saw her, she seemed to have an intimidating effect on humans. I was so used to it by now though I barely noticed.

We made our way to Jessica's old white Mercury. I made sure I was sat next to Anastasia in the back. I didn't trust either of the others to get along with her. Zarbien jumped in the car after Anastasia in cat form landing on her lap.

Jessica looked very surprised "Shoo cat shoo" she said waving a hand with painted nails at Zarbien who hissed showing sharp teeth. Which made Jessica quickly retract her hand.

"He has far more right to be going to Port Angeles than you do now leave my cat _alone_" said Anastasia with some force

Jessica looked as if she'd just swallowed a lemon.

I groaned inwardly shutting my door, this was going to be a long trip I thought as we drove out of town limits.


	41. PortAngeles Underground City

**The characters in the Twilight story and all references to it solely belong to Stephenie Meyer – but the magical references in most of this chapter I would like to take the credit for**

**Apov**

We finally arrived in Port Angeles. I jumped out of the car with Zarbien before Angela had properly stopped the car. No-one had spoken when we were in there I got the feeling that it was because I was there, cheerful humans seem to lose enthusiasm around me. In some ways I find that a good thing.

I had spent a good part of the trip probing Angela's mind, I discovered that she herself actually possessed a very tiny bit of magic, not that she could ever use it she was far more human than anything else.

Bella came over to speak to me and we organised a time when we would meet up back in this car park. I guessed I'd be back around eightish but it could take longer depending on how many hold ups I met.

"I don't think Jessica and Angela will wait too long" Bella said looking back at them

I spared those humans a glance then turned back to Bella "If so then you just go back with them and I'll try and find my own way"

"And you put the protection around the house yes?" she asked

I nodded "Only your you, your father, those girls and the postman will be allowed to pass it"

Bella gave a smile to give herself confidence "I'll see you later" she said then went back to her friends.

I turned with Zarbien still in cat form for now as left the car park and headed for the magical part of Port Angeles.

There were several ways to get to the magical part of Port Angeles but obviously they weren't easy to enter else all the humans would wander in accidentally. They were so damn nosy. We went into the backstreets where only magical beings and stupid drugged up humans went.

We reached a building which looked like it would crumble on our heads with the words _Do Not Enter_ printed on the front. At least that's all that humans could see underneath were the magical words _Port Angeles City_ written in the old language.

The building had a strong repelling charm on it which kept most humans at bay but Zarbien and I both knew where we were going.

I traced some words on the wall and cast a spell tracing my hands down the wall leaving silver lines laced with power. Another way to get through was to give your magical blood – magical people who couldn't cast spells generally did this – but I was quite happy keeping my blood where it was.

The silver marks I had traced formed the shape of steps as the wall folded back. I gave a slight smile and me and Zarbien walked down the shining stairway going underground.

After going down the small tunnel we finally reached the opening and stared at the spectacular sight before us. We had seen it before but it still took your breath away.

We were in a huge cavern, massive, gigantic, an entire underground city glittering with lights, filled with magical beings of all shapes and sizes. We had come out in a wall so we could see this whole section of the cavern before us, looking down at the figures below. We were suspended a good hundred feet in the air and were standing on what looked like a large mushroom that looked like it had grown out of the wall. It went along both ways leading sideways and down towards different parts of the cavern.

The hum of the crowd was all around with salesmen yelling out offers to the passing crowd.

As we walked along the mushroom we passed dozens of stalls indented into the walls, people selling charms, amulets, weaponry, food, drink, magic books, potions, cloaks, crystals, animals of unlimited, unimaginable species and much much more.

I felt like I was really at home.

I passed all these wondrous stalls telling myself that I had to find the potion Bella wanted and not dilly-dally. Although granted I knew that once I got the potion unless it was very late I was going to spend the rest of my time here and buy some nice new things.

On my way down I passed witches, warlocks, a group of hooded druids, elves and fairies of all different types, an ocean creature I had never seen before, a couple of class-sixteen werewolves, a dragon master holding a small dragon on a leash, a slime creature leaving a slime trail behind him, a few ghosts dressed in old fashioned clothes drifting carelessly, hell hounds and what I expected was a troll with a hideous twisted face, a spiked club in one hand who made the mushroom like floor tremble with every step and the crowd part in alarm.

Naturally no-one seemed surprised that I was walking along with an abnormally large lion, in fact I saw a stall with a witch selling live stone lions in various colours and sizes. I loved the magical world.

I made my way further down until I reached a section where the floor sticking out was just a gigantic multicoloured seashell the size of several trucks. I turned to head inside the shop which was too made entirely of seashells. Most of the types of seashells humans didn't know about, humans were despite their knowledge banned from almost half the known ocean.

As I entered the shop with Zarbien I got hit by the smell of seaweed. Inside their were nets hung up at the ceiling which shone turquoise green-blue shimmering all around. Pictures of the most beautiful and deadly marine creatures hung up on the wall. Water dripped from the wall from a source I couldn't see. The floor itself was water and me and Zarbien had to step on stepping stones to avoid getting wet.

Zarbien didn't like this, he'd never liked water and looked down almost nervously into it eyes following its ripples and all the tiny magical water creatures that swam within.

I looked around eyes drawn to the hovering sea globe in one corner.

A figure emerged from through the door to the next room. He was tall and gangly with long hair a green-blue colour that looked wet and hung from his head like seaweed. Even his skin had a greenish tinge. His eyes were impossible to read, an aquamarine colour as changeable as water itself.

He was dressed in the cloak of a water warlock. His kind descended from the ocean, they could cause tidal waves, whirlpools, could breath underwater and swim to the deepest depths of the ocean unscathed.

A small smile swam across his face as he recognised me.

"Anastasia" he said

"Sebastian" I replied purely out of politeness for he was not who I was here to see

"Can I ask why you're here?" he said raising a blue-green eyebrow

"I'm looking for your sister" I said

He looked a little surprised and a little annoyed at this

"Coral?" he said after a moment "She's gone down to the North Atlantic Ocean for a few weeks, meeting up with some old friends" he said

Disappointment coursed through me. Fantastic, now I'd probably have to buy myself a memory potion, I suppose I was in a good enough place, I could get a cheap one that would make him forget us and unfortunately probably the rest of his life too. Bella would just have to live with it.

I'd wanted to save my money and not waste it on something as trivial as a memory potion for some deluded vampire. Plus, well, I'd sort of wanted to meet up with Coral too, we were old friends and I hadn't seen her in over a year.

Still I could hardly blame her for wanting to go to the ocean she was a water witch for crying out loud. She and her brother had numerous swimming pools built into this shop – I know I'd swam in them before – but the sea was where they were really at home.

"Why do you want to see her?" Sebastian asked flicking seaweed like hair out of his face. Most warlocks had long hair, it had been that way for millennia but very few had hair like his.

"Do I need a reason to visit an old friend?" I replied

_Can we just get out of here?_ Zarbien said balancing on his four rocks holding his tail out of the water.

I ignored him, chicken.

"Well knowing you I wouldn't say you'd take the trip just to see Coral, you're not that sentimental. Or maybe you've changed, your familiars certainly grown" he said nodding at Zarbien who I could sense despite his slight fear of the powerful water warlock felt quite pleased at this.

"So what's your real reason for coming here?" he asked

I gave in knowing he wouldn't rest until I told him and would probably shoot me with a jet of water magic. At this thought Zarbien whimpered. Pathetic.

"Coral owes me a favour and I don't want to spend all my money" I said simply

He tilted his head "I own this store just as much as she does" he said

"Yeah but I don't owe you a favour and your prices are really high" I said

"What exactly do you want?" he asked

"A memory potion that can pinpoint certain moments of a class-two vampire's memory to which he will never remember despite how long he lives" I said

Sebastian raised his eyebrows "Are class-two vampires immortal?" he asked walking across the stepping stones

I nodded "Yes"

"Can they see the future?"

"No"

"Why do you want to give one a potion?"

"None of your business" I said giving him a look

He stopped and leaned against the counter "Well, I suppose I _could_ get you one for free" he said sounding considering

"But?" I said saving him the trouble "What do you want?"

"Hmm" he considered "What do I want?"

"No" I said bluntly

"I didn't say anything" he protested

"I'm no mind reader but I know what you were thinking" I said. Once upon a time I had dated Sebastian, not really long enough to call him a proper boyfriend but I knew him back to front by now. I'd never told Bella about him now I thought about it.

"Fine" he said silkily clearly looking at other options "What about...a kiss?" he said innocently

"A kiss" I said staring at him and shook my head

He rolled his eyes "Come on first base for crying out loud"

"I have a boyfriend now" I said

"Is it serious?" he asked

"Yes"

"Is he a mind reader?"

"No"

"Is he here?"

"No"

"Then what's the problem?"

I let out half a laugh "The problem is we were done two years ago and I'm not for sale, not even my lips, sorry"

That and I knew if I kissed him he'd hit me hard with some kind of magic I wasn't expecting, if there was one thing I wasn't, it was naive.

"Fine" he again going over to some shelves stuffed with books, potions, orbs, and other things. "Blimey girls are stubborn these days. Still you were really good two years ago so you can have this potion as a thank you present" he said and flung a potion bottle at me.

I was a good catch, my witch reflexes were a hundred better than Bella's who was a serious klutz. I caught the potion in one hand and looked at it, it looked about right....

_Hey hey hold the phone what's he got there _Zarbien's voice rang in my mind

My head snapped up and I saw him slip something into his sleeve from the shelves. I only saw it for a fraction of a second.

I held out a hand and drew my magic up, the thing he had slipped up his sleeve flew towards me hovering before my face.

"Hey" he protested

"Oh you bastard" I said shaking my head looking at it "You snake"

He sighed in clear annoyance.

It was a pink green orb made of sand crystals, from the similar minerals that sirens have inside themselves. If it broke a toxin would hit me that would make me not remotely care whether Sebastian was my ex or not.

Zarbien growled as he recognised it. Sebastian looked at him clearly realising that Zarbien was now a lot stronger than before and could probably rip him to shreds.

"Seriously" I said holding the orb out "You were gonna use this"

"Can't blame a guy for trying" he shrugged

I could tell the only thing preventing him from making it explode in my hands was Zarbien. He seemed to realise that Zarbien would attack him if that happened.

I pocketed the orb keeping it away from him.

"By the way you will have to pay for that, those are more expensive than potions" he said almost instinctively.

Then two thins happened almost simultaneously.

First was Sebastian's familiar appearing, a huge water eel with razor sharp teeth longer than my fingers, heading towards Zarbien who was still having trouble on the shaky stepping stones above water. This was not good, if Zarbien went down I would totally be at Sebastian's mercy.

The second thing was a much better, the door opening and in stepped Coral.

I spun round and saw her relief washing over me. She stared at the scene looking dumbstruck.

"What's going on?" she asked putting down the bag she was carrying "Am I interrupting something?"

"God no" I said jumping towards her. Sebastian would never try anything in front of his sister.

"Yes" said Sebastian coldly

Coral folded her arms and glared at him. She could look seriously scary when she wanted too, better than I could, she could make witches and warlocks themselves nervous, it was one of the features I always liked about her.

It wasn't her features particularly – she had long wet seaweed-like hair and green tinged skin like her brother and was slim if small with aquamarine eyes – it was her expression and stance that made you back away. You caught your breath as if you were drowning and got this inward feeling that a tidal wave was about to hit you.

"Sebastian, I leave the house for half an hour" she scolded

I looked at him, so much for the North Pacific.

"I didn't ask her to come" he said in self defence

Coral looked sideways at me

"I came to find you to get a potion" I explained "A memory potion to mind wipe a type two vampire"

I held out the potion so she could see.

Coral looked at it "This couldn't take out a vampire, but it could certainly mind wipe a witch"

We both glared at Sebastian who it seemed have had enough and in defeat walked away through the door to the back of the shop his familiar swimming at his heels.

Coral looked at me and grinned

"He hasn't changed" I said smiling back

"Hopefully neither have you" said Coral as we got talking

_Can we have this conversation outside? _Groaned Zarbien

I smiled and the three of us walked out where we could see the whole cavern. I had hours to kill, magical money in my bag, an old friend by my side and the city of Port Angelesat our disposal.

Score. 


	42. Human Shoppers

**I parted with Anastasia and walked around with Jessica and Angela determined to keep my mind on shopping not sorcery. **

**Port Angeles was a beautiful tourist trap, much more polished and quaint6 than Forks however I still felt unnerved at the thought of the thousands of magical creatures under the ground I was walking on. **

**Angela and Jessica thought they knew this place well, the truth was they only knew the surface but anyway they got down to dress hunting right away. This was a relief because it took my focus. **

**They seemed very surprised that I'd never been to a dance in Phoenix. **

"**Didn't you ever go with a boyfriend or something?" Jess asked dubiously as we walked through the front doors of the store. **

"**Really" I tried to convince her not wanting to confess my secret "I've never had a boyfriend or anything close. I didn't go out much." **

"**Why not?" Jessica demanded **

**Because this world is packed with deadly monsters you airhead. I'm terrified myself and since I'm involved and related to Anastasia I put any boyfriend in great risk. **

"**No-one asked me" I said simply **

**She looked sceptical at this "People ask you out here" she reminded me "And you tell them no" **

**We were in the juniors section now, scanning the racks for dress-up clothes.**

"**Tyler did tell me he was debating whether to ask you to the prom" Jessica said "You know partly because he likes you and partly because he feels really bad about the car incident. But I think that choking thing freaked him out" **

"**That wasn't Bella's fault though" put in Angela **

**Yes it was I thought to myself. Well mainly Anastasia's but if you really look at it it was because of me he was attacked and thanks to me he was saved. **

"**He told me and Lauren, that's why she doesn't like you" Jessica giggled while she pawed through the clothes **

"**Well he didn't ask me and I'm not going with him" I said firmly making it clear this was the end of the conversation. **

**The dress section wasn't large, but both of them found a few things to try on. I sat on a low chair just inside the dressing room by the three way mirror thinking about Anastasia and our situation. **

**Jess was torn between two – one a long strapless basic black number, the other a knee-length electric blue with spaghetti straps. I looked at them both the blue matched her eyes but I advised her in the black probably because I knew how stunning Anastasia looked in a dress – when she went to see Zeke's parents – and she **_**always**_** wore black dresses. **

**Angela chose a pale pink dress that draped around her tall frame nicely and brought out the honey tints in her light brown hair. I complimented them both generously and helped them return their rejects to their racks. The whole process was much shorter and easier than similar trips I'd taken with Renee at home. Definitely more similar than anyway Anastasia had ever taken me. **

**We headed over to shoes and accessories. While they tried on things I merely watched and critiqued, not in the mood to shop for myself, though I did need new shoes. The girl's – night high was wearing off Anastasia and Edward swimming through my head. **

**After they tried on some jewellery, I didn't need any, the only jewellery I had were the pendants and charms Anastasia gave me. **

**We planned to go to dinner at a little Italian restaurant on the broadwalk, but the dress shopping hadn't taken as long as we'd expected. I imagined it was likely that Anastasia would be making her own way home. **

**Jess and Angela were going to take their clothes back to the car and then walk down to the bay. I told them I would meet them in an hour at the restaurant not wanting to be near the sea. I would go to the bookstore instead. They were both willing to go with me but I encouraged them to go and have fun, they didn't know how choosy I was when it came to books. I could barely read fantasy and supernatural, it just drove me crazy with all the mistakes the human authors gave. **

**So they walked off to the car chattering happily, and I headed down in the direction Jess pointed out. **

**I had no trouble finding a bookstore but it was a new age one with dream catchers and books on spiritual reading. Dream catchers worked but only if they were charmed which these ones clearly weren't. I didn't stop and pressed onwards looking for somewhere else. There had to be a normal bookstore in town. **

**I meandered through the streets, which were filling up with end-of-the-human-workday traffic, and hoped I was heading downtown. I wasn't paying as much attention as I should to where I was going; I was wrestling with stress, trying and failing to forget about our situation, everything Anastasia had said. If he found out, if he told, if he did Anastasia would almost certainly kill him. The thought made my stomach twist itself in a knot as it all came crashing down on me. Stupid, intrusive vampire. **

**I stomped along in a southerly direction, towards some glass fronted shops that looked promising. But when I got to them they just turned out to be a repair shop and a vacant place. I still had too much time to go looking for Jess and Angela yet, and I definitely needed to get my mood in hand before I met back with them. **

**I started to realise, as I crossed another road that I was going in the wrong direction. I felt repelled which probably meant I was heading towards a magical domain, possibly the entrance to the magical Port-Angeles under city. **

**I turned heading back the way I came and slightly east trying to get a far away from the magic as possible, without Anastasia here I was way out of my league. **

**A group of four men turned around the corner I was near, dressed like humans but that didn't make it certain. As they approached me they didn't look many years older than me – though depending if they were human or not that didn't determine their real age. They were joking loudly among themselves, laughing amongst themselves, laughing raucously and punching each other's arms. I ran to the far side of the of the sidewalk and started to walk very quickly away debating whether to sprint. **

**Anastasia's words of being paranoid few through my head. **

"**Hey wait!" one of them called from behind me **

**That concluded my debate and I started sprinting fast as I could. I ran and ran, after living with Anastasia I was quite fast but still clumsy and fell over numerous times. **

**However it seemed these men knew these streets better than I did and two of them appeared around a corner that I turned I skidded to a halt freezing after a couple of seconds the other two appeared behind me. **

"**There you are!" one boomed **

"**Yeah" one behind me said "We just took a little detour" **

**I stood my ground. We were clearly near a magic outpost, if these men were magical I stood no chance. Where was Anastasia when I needed her? **


	43. Can't Wait

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Scorpius **

**Epov**

"Edward which do you think looks better the black or the blue?" Emmett said holding up some ties. He was going on a date with Rosalie, they were married but still dated all the time as if they were really the age they looked.

I sat there in silence. Emmett had been deliberately asking me questions a billion to the dozen ever since he discovered I was mute. It was one of his most successful ways of tormenting me now I couldn't speak. I didn't understand how mute people coped.

"With any luck this date will go well...and after..." Emmett trailed off grinning at himself in the mirror letting his mind run wild

I made a silent choking noise of disgust and Emmett laughed.

"If you have something to say Edward feel free" he smiled

Sick sick vampire, god almighty. I held up one of my readily made signs which Emmett laughed at then stormed out of the room getting away from his thoughts. I found Alice in the next room she looked over to me.

"You only have to wait till tomorrow" she said sympathetically

I knew she would say this and my answer was that I didn't want to wait any longer. I had a page ready. I had written numbers on the pages I had readily written and flicked to that one.

Alice frowned at the page

"Err Edward you do know what that page says don't you?" she asked giving me a look

I turned the booklet towards me and saw the words _'I am a jackass'_

I jumped in surprise and heard Emmett laughing from the other room. Earlier he had stolen my booklet earlier so I had had to go round writing on pieces of paper, it had taken me a while to find it and by the looks of it I'd found one Emmett had made himself.

I threw the book to the ground and turned to charge at Emmett but Alice caught hold of my arm.

"Look Edward don't he's not worth it" she said giving me a pleading look

I honestly didn't care, he had made this whole situation ten times more frustrating than it would have been.

"Look" she said "I expect what you wanted to say on that paper was that you don't want to wait till tomorrow. Yes?"

I nodded

"Well how about we just go over to their house and ask?" she said

I shook my head remembering the past experience. Something creepy happened there, something I never wanted to happen again.

"At least tell me why?" she said

I gave her a look. I couldn't tell her anything even if I wanted to, I didn't have a pen or paper. I think Emmett had hidden all pens, either that or I'd just never noticed how few we had, which in a house this size was just ridiculous.

"Sorry" she said realising this

I just shrugged in a way that told her it was okay.

"But" she said "I think we should go and see Bella's sister" she said

I shook my head

"Not the others just me and you. Maybe they'll fix it...however you think they did this to you" she said and I could tell she still didn't believe that the sisters had anything to do it. I couldn't blame her, hell if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I wouldn't believe it myself.

I shook my head again

"Fine, I'll go without you" she said primly and walked past me

I moved at vampire speed towards the door and barred her way holding out both hands one on each side of the doorframe. I shook my head firmly, finally, putting without words that she was not going to see those sisters.

She looked up at me eyes narrowed and folded her arms. She looked like some kind of angry pixie with her short dark hair sticking up in all directions.

"Edward move" she said

I mouthed out the words 'No way'. She couldn't fight me, and she usually couldn't outrun me but somehow she always seemed to be able to find a way round me. It didn't make much sense but her bizarre ways always prevailed, how Jasper put up with it twenty-four seven I'll never know.

Low and behold five minutes later we were walking to the car. Her striding forward triumphantly me dragging my feet. We obviously didn't take the Volvo which would need some serious work before I revealed it to the public.

We were driving along Alice at the wheel and then we stopped suddenly. I was jerked forward grabbing the dashboard Alice was having a vision. I tapped into her mind and saw a similar image to what happened last time I approached the Swan house except now Alice was with me.

Alice turned to me and frowned.

"What? What's that?" she said looking thoroughly confused

I shrugged "Your guess is as good as mine" I mouthed

She frowned going over the vision again. I just sighed and stared forward at the road ahead.

"Maybe we could go looking for them" Alice suggested

"Where?" I said incredulously. This made no sound but she seemed to get the gist of it.

"Well think about it where else would they go. What have they been thinking about recently?" she said

I gave her a look

"Oh yeah you can't read their thoughts" she said to herself "Damn"

I thought about all the thoughts I'd gathered at school and wondered.

"Oh well I suppose we'll just have to leave it till tomorrow" Alice said sounding disappointed.

A light bulb lit above my head as an idea sprang to mind. Jessica and Angela were going on this shopping trip they had kept babbling about to Bella – I had tapped into their thoughts since I couldn't get into hers in attempt to work out this frustrating secret which was more trouble than it was worth – I'd bet anything she was going on the trip too. Where was it, Port Angeles...yeah. I grabbed my pen and started scribbling hurriedly in my notebook as Alice reached over to turn the small car light off above me.

Her eyebrows rose when I shoved the paper in her face.

"Port Angeles" she said to herself "You sure?"

I shook my head.

"Port Angeles it is" she said with a smile and we started to drive back to the house. Some may wonder why we were going back the way we came but if you knew Alice like I do you knew there was no way she was going to somewhere like Port Angeles with no money to buy clothes.


	44. Locket of Light

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Scorpius **

**Bpov**

The men were coming closer, this close to the magic entrance to the magical underground city of Port-Angeles I had no knowledge to what species these men were. They could be anyone, any_thing_.

"Stay away from me" I shouted and I heard one of them chuckle

I looked around heart beating a mile a minute but saw no one coming, no rescue. The alley was totally silent the only sounds the men's approaching footsteps and heavy breathing. Usually when I was in any kind of dangerous situation Anastasia would be with me and fight off any thing that even thought about hurting me often blasting it to pieces and often leaving it a bloody mass on the floor.

Still she wasn't here now, I was alone. But I hadn't lived with Anastasia all these years and not learned a trick or two.

I grabbed the silver locket around my neck, the engraved locket I always tried to wear and raised it up aiming it in the direction of my attacker. As I opened it and a beam of light blasted outwards making me stagger slightly. This light hit one of the men in the leg. A bull's-eye.

He yelled and fell to the floor legs buckling and burning. I winced a little as I saw his leg shutting the locket. Just before he fell to the floor I had seen his leg, the beam had shot straight through with mega force and I could see the alleyway through the beam, it was at least five inches wide. That has got to hurt, his yells were enough proof.

Two of the men stopped dead in their tracks, the other wasn't so smart and took a full on lunge at me, I reacted just fast enough and opened my locket turning my head and shutting my eyes instinctively, but this meant I wasn't really aiming at all.

I felt him slam into my body as his body fell past me landing on the floor taking me with him knocking all the wind out of me. He didn't move after that and using all my strength heaved his body of me and scrambled away still on the floor. His lower chest had a still shining beam through it and his shirt was turning red through spreading blood.

I turned to the other who looked mortified.

"Run" I advised them getting up, they didn't need telling twice and legged it like away from the scene like hell was chasing them.

I looked down at the men the one who got blasted in the leg was whimpering on the floor, the other unconscious. I pulled out my mobile and called ambulance for the men. The one who got a blast through the leg would almost certainly live but the one with the blast through his stomach would definitely die without immediate medical attention.

I looked down, only humans, that was one hell of a relief, for me anyway. If they had been warlocks or most other kinds of life I'd have stood no chance.

What were these men human rapists or something despicable? Of course a warlock wouldn't want a human girl for anything like that, as Anastasia pointed out once witches were apparently better at sex than human girls. How? I didn't even want to ask.

I started to walk away maybe they'd live maybe they'd not, it was a bit of an upsetting thought but my consolidation was it had been in self defense and they certainly did deserve something to teach them a lesson.

The one with the leg injury he'd no doubt end up in a wheelchair, both would need probably surgery, the locket had burned right through their bones, like a laser. That would teach them, I'd probably saved some future girls from harm.

I was thankful now that Anastasia was not here with me, she would have killed all four of the humans with magic. She had a limited tolerance when it came to humans let alone rapists. Still I wasn't pointing any fingers at her, it was her who'd given me this necklace in the first place so technically she had sort of saved me.

Still if she found out any one of these men ever tried anything on me she would make me identify them – which I would because she always got these sort of things out of me – then hunt the men down and...well you can imagine, it would get messy. So this was going to remain my secret, I just had too much mercy. Anastasia always said it would be the death of me.

I walked away from the men with more haste, not scared of them, they wouldn't be a danger to anyone for quite some time. I was hurrying away from what worse things could emerge in this area. I was going to find Angela and Jessica again. They were probably waiting for me in that Italian restaurant by now.

I combed through the streets feeling safer and safer the further away I got from that place after a walk I reached the Italian restaurant, they were probably inside now and I may have missed most of the meal but that didn't matter too much, I'd lost my appetite.

I was about to walk in the door still thinking of an excuse to explain the filth on my trousers and the slight bloodstain on my blouse when I head a screech of wheels from the road and then a voice.

It yelled "Bella!"

**Sorry to all you reviewers who were hoping for a big Edward-style rescue like in the original Twilight but in **_**Relative**_** Twilight the story line altered and twisted out of Meyer's control, in this story he was just too late. **


	45. An Italian Reataurant

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Scorpius**

**Bpov**

"Bella!" a voice yelled

I spun round the voice was female but not Angela or Jessica's.

I saw a car swerve besides me with a screech of wheels sending dust everywhere. Who the hell was driving this thing? Had they not heard of the speed limit?

I looked in the window as it ground to a halt a saw a girl staring back at me. The vampire girl. She waved to me and opened the door as I took several steps backwards almost falling over my own feet (I did that a lot).

Then Edward Cullen stepped out of the other side slamming the door and my throat closed up a tingle going up my spine until it sizzled my brain. From fear I told myself, honest to God fear, nothing else.

"Ah Bella," said the vampire girl. I'm pretty sure her name was Alice or something like that "We meet at last."

"I'm Alice." she said proving me correct giving a dazzling smile which I examined for fangs but couldn't see any then she held out one pale hand, it was as pale as Anastasia's.

I didn't take it and instead said "You can't park there."

I could never say the right thing at the right time.

Alice turned back to look at it then at Edward "Edward could you park the car?" she said sweetly

He gave her a look.

"Fine" she said then turned back to me "I'll park it in a minute, first we need to talk to you, in private."

I raised my eyebrows. No way.

"I can't I um have to meet with some friends." I said. It sounded perfectly plausible, in fact it was technically true. Then to my dismay Angela and Jessica appeared behind me coming out of the Italian restaurant.

"Where have you been?" Jessica asked suspiciously eyes flicking from me to Edward

"I got held up coming back." I said not telling them what by that would only freak them out.

"Would it be alright if we joined you?" Alice asked pleasantly

Jessica's eyes were glued to Edward "Sure." she breathed

"Um, actually Bella we ate whilst we were waiting – sorry." Angela confessed

"It's fine – I'm not hungry." I said before the vampires could invite me to dinner alone. That would suit them well, their main course might be me.

"Honestly you should get something, we'll pay." Alice said persuasively

I knew enough about magic not to be swayed by a vampire's smooth tongue.

"I have to meet my sister," I said "We need to get home and give her a lift, sorry."

That clearly wasn't enough for this vampire

"We were hoping to talk to your sister too" she said "We have a couple of things we'd just like to sort out."

My hand wrapped around my locket. It couldn't harm many supernatural's but if these vampires were anything like the ones I'd met before pure sunlight would certainly slow them down.

"When will your sister get here." she asked

"She isn't coming here," I replied "And I'm really sorry but we're in a bit of a rush. Maybe another time."

I shot a glance at Edward, he wasn't saying much.

"Well we've got stuff to do as well actually, mainly shopping but I'm afraid we really need to talk to you and hopefully your sister it's quite urgent."

"No" I said quite firmly

All four people stared at me in surprise at my tone. I felt a little awkward in front if Angela and Jessica, rather scared in front of the two vampires but a little pleased with myself at for once putting on a strong enough voice to stop a supernatural in their tracks.

"Angela, Jessica, I'll meet you back at the car" I said focusing on keeping my voice firm.

If the vampires attacked I didn't want them anywhere near. Or if I decided to use my locket I didn't want them to see.

Angela and Jessica looked at one another then headed back towards the car park after agreeing to meet me, Jessica gave a curious look back at the three of us. I told them I'd be right behind them, to avoid being followed by the vampires I had to make clear I didn't want to talk to them.

"Look we just want Edward to be alright again." said Alice sounding a little desperate

My eyes widened "What did she – I mean what's happened?"

Edward flipped up a booklet

'_I can't talk' _it read

A muting spell I thought. I knew it, she'd used it on Charlie before. Then I'd made her give him his voice back and wipe his memory. Hopefully she'd be able to do the same to Edward and all his vampire buddies.

"I don't know, I didn't do anything, no idea." I said, I was going to kill Anastasia

Their eyes narrowed. I was a terrible liar.

"Maybe you should see a doctor." I suggested innocently

"Our father's a doctor – a good one – he had no idea." Alice said then turned Edward "Maybe it was something else"

Edward didn't look convinced and to be honest neither did Alice, my terrible lying had clearly just made things worse.

I decided to fast. I turned and had barely taken one step when a freezing cold hand grabbed my arm. I jumped violently spinning around wrenching my hand out of her grip. "_Let go!_" I cried flicking the latch on my locket

"For God's sake we just want to talk to you, that's all." she said and I could see in her face the look I often gave Anastasia when I begged her to lay off Charlie, or work harder to stay hidden or take less risks so she wouldn't get hurt.

For a second Alice Cullen was just another sister who was worried about her sibling.

"Alright." I said stupidly in that moment of weakness

She smiled and headed into the Italian restaurant. What had I gotten myself into? I thought relocking my locket.

The restaurant wasn't crowded – it was off season in Port-Angeles.

I looked around naturally it was Italian-themed but Italy always made me nervous, I had once read half a chapter on Italy in Anastasia's book – which I never read again – and the pictures alone had been enough to keep me away from Italy for a lifetime. I still couldn't believe Italian humans didn't know about the magical world, their country was a magical goldmine, so naturally Anastasia loved it.

Anyway the host of the restaurant was a human female and I understood the look in her eyes as she assessed Edward. She welcomed him a little more warmly than necessary. I felt a funny sensation at this, as if I were almost bothered, I was bothered because he could kill her I told myself that was it, nothing else.

She was pretty as far as humans go, several inches taller than me with unnaturally blond hair. I frowned examining it, probably dye but then supernatural's could have every colour known to humans as their natural hair colour, and other colours humans didn't even know about. Maybe she...no I was being paranoid again damn it. Just because it's an Italian restaurant doesn't mean it's busting with magic.

Concentrate on the situation at hand, the vampires were the ones I needed to focus on now.

"A table for three?" Alice said sweetly. Her voice was tempting, human lads would swarm like flies. The host looked at Alice then me probably deciding if either of us were dating Edward. Via looks Alice was obviously the bigger threat, I looked quite ordinary to be true, despite our adventures Anastasia always healed me up to my original state and I never asked for her to make me look better, I didn't want magic that close to my face.

The host led us to a table big enough for four in the centre of the most crowded area of the dining floor, typical.

I was about to sit but Edward shook his head.

"Perhaps somewhere a little more private?" Alice insisted quietly to the waitress

I wasn't sure but it looked like Edward smoothly handed her a tip.

"Sure." she sounded surprised.

I however was used to this Anastasia always demanded the best table in human restaurants. Supernaturals, in some ways they're all the same.

The host turned and led us around a partition to a small booth – all of them empty "How's this?"

"Perfect" Alice said and Edward flashed her a gleaming smile, dazing her momentarily.

"Um" – she shook her head blinking "Your server will be right out." She walked away unsteadily.

I sat down making sure to be right at the edge if the table so I would be able to jump up and run in minimal time. Although depending on what kind of vampire these are that might not be much use.

The other two sat down and appeared to be waiting for me to speak. I remained silent observing them.

"So," said Alice tapping her fingers on the table "Was it or was it not you or your sister who made Edward lose his voice?"

"How could we possibly make Edward lose the power of speech?" I asked to find out how much they knew

Edward shrugged and Alice gave an apologetic look "We don't know, I know it sounds ridiculous but well that's what he thinks happened."

It didn't sound ridiculous, not to me anyway but I tried to remain calm trying to control my hands which were shaking badly under the table.

"Can you just answer the question, please, we just need a straight answer" she said

I prepared the word no on my tongue however when my eyes drifted to Edward I somehow felt...weightless almost it was strange and I ended up saying "We'll fix it tomorrow."

Edward smiled looking relieved and Alice's jaw dropped eyes widening to almost perfect spheres

"Oh my God it really was you two! I didn't believe it I really didn't. How did you do that?" she said sounding both amazed and excited

I stood up, she knew enough as it was and I had left it too long to find Jessica and Angela.

"Meet me and my sister at the front entrance of school in the morning tomorrow. Just you two." I said as a waitress with black hair appeared.

She leaned back as I stepped out

"Sorry," I said to her "Change of plans but you're perfectly able to serve these two"

Who knows maybe they were the kind of vampires that ate human food instead of or as well as blood.

I walked out of the restaurant, I could almost feel their eyes on me and hurried out of the restaurant before they decided to follow.

I legged it to the car where Jessica and Angela were waiting looking just a little irritated.

"What took you so long?" Jessica asked

I guessed that what she really wanted to know was what went on with Edward Cullen, it wasn't hard to see she had a thing for him.

"They just wanted to talk about school stuff," I said dismissively "Did Anastasia show?"

They shook their heads looking quite pleased at this, I was a little disappointed myself but didn't want to hold my two friends up any longer than I already had. Anastasia would be alright, she always was.


	46. Mind Wiping

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephanie Meyer – except Anastasia and Scorpius **

**Bpov**

I got out of the car grabbing my jacket and went into the kitchen tired and mildly appalled with myself for making a deal with a couple of vampires. I went into the shower as if trying to wash the scent and presence of them off me. I made it as hot as I could until it burned my skin which was still freezing from the night air and their dead touch. I stood there mind spinning until the hot water ran out and put my hand over my eyes. Why had I said that, to meet me? Anastasia made those kind of calls not me, every time I tried to take command in these sort of issues it would backfire horribly and someone would get hurt. I had learnt to leave it to Anastasia a long time ago, she was the witch not me, thank God. It was something to do with Edward Cullen he was having some kind of strange effect on me, maybe it was a kind of hypnotism although as far as I knew type-two vampires couldn't accomplish this and I myself had spent years building up an immunity. Whatever it was it was sure as hell working, my rational mind was losing all its sense and I knew it was going to cost the both of us.

Eventually I crawled away to bed tired but staying up quite late hoping to hear Anastasia and Zarbien coming through the door. But I heard nothing.

In the morning I really wanted to believe that last night had been a dream but common sense was too strong. I had made a plan with vampires.

It was foggy and dark outside typical Forks weather. The kind of weather I detested but at least this would mean Anastasia could mind-wipe them at school and wouldn't have to delve into their lair or house or wherever this type of vampire lived, I had ruled out a crypt by now.

I dressed heavy for an almost certain Forks style downpour and headed downstairs hoping to find Anastasia.

When I got downstairs Charlie was thankfully nowhere to be seen. I was thankful because Anastasia was lying fully clothed on the sofa drop dead asleep with a bag of newly purchased magical objects glowing in a couple of bags next to her. If that wasn't enough Zarbien who was also asleep was in full lion form and a old china vase was hovering around the room.

I walked over and grabbed the vase from the thin air and shook it. Anastasia gave a slight moan as the telekinetic bond broke but then just turned over still fast asleep. I cleared my throat loudly.

"What?" groaned Anastasia eyes still shut

"Get up sleeping beauty we have to go to school" I said

"I'm skiving today leave me alone" she mumbled

"Let me rephrase that," I said "We need to go and mind-wipe vampires"

There was pause then her limp hand started fumbling around on the floor and felt a potion bottle. She twisted it through her hands and held it out to me.

"You go and give it to them" she said

"Alright" I said pleasantly taking the potion bottle out of her hand but aside of that not moving

There was a silence then Anastasia gave a very loud moan and raised herself up, I had to hand it to her she looked exhausted, she turned to me eyes only half open. "I hate you Bella Swan" 

"Yep" I said pressing the potion bottle into her cold hands

She moved at next to zero miles per hour, not bothering to charge her clothes and only partly woke up when we were in the truck and I was explaining what happened last night at the shopping.

I persuaded myself she would have been a lot more concerned about me had she not been so tired. I didn't know how she got home last night she probably rode Zarbien, I was rather puzzled as to why she was so tired, I'd seen her stay awake for days and nights on end. What had she been doing down in that city?

It was unusually foggy; the air was almost smoky with it. The mist was ice cold where it clung to exposed skin on my face and neck. Usually I would ask Anastasia to cast a heating spell but didn't have the will to ask her to do anything when she was in this state and instead just turned on the heating in the truck which wasn't half as effective.

We drove through the fog shrouded streets and I was very glad I was driving. I'd lost count of the number of times Anastasia had crashed our mother's car both by accident and on purpose half the times with me in it.

We drove up to school and round near to the entrance I scanned for the silver Volvo but couldn't see it, it usually stood out amongst the other cars. In fact he wasn't driving it yesterday either, I wondered what happened to it. Hmm.

We headed towards the entrance after I gave Anastasia's shoulder a shake. Zarbien looked like he was in a deep cat-nap. As we got closer we could see two figures through the fog, two vampires.

My eyes fixed on Edward Cullen and I caught my breath, had I not seen other magical creatures I'm sure I would have found him breathtaking but I refused to think of that, I guessed I was just scared although with Anastasia next to me I didn't have too much reason to be.

"Hello" said Alice stepping forward. I dragged my gaze to her, she was wearing a whole new outfit to yesterday, she looked like she should be in a fashion magazine. It certainly didn't look like clothes you would wear in this weather.

My eyes went back to Edward, even now he couldn't talk he definitely attracted my attention more than his sister.

"Hello" I said back "Where's the rest of your family?"

"You told us to come alone" Alice reminded me

Oh damn. Why did I say that? Now Anastasia would have to go trooping round the school for the rest of them.

Alice started talking "So how are you going to do this and how-"

"Oh _shut up!_" said Anastasia from next to me sounding very annoyed setting off a violent shockwave.

Edward and Alice were both pinned back to the wall which cracked. They bore looks of great surprise then the potion bottle levitated upwards and to my alarm swung sideways so the contents smashed along their faces, it was sharp glass but barely left scratched upon their skin. Anastasia put up a shield around us so we didn't take in the scent. Both the Cullen's fell unconscious to the floor.

"Anastasia!" I protested

"What?" she growled looking at me

I stared at her wanting to tell her that she shouldn't have been nearly so violent but not wanting to provoke an angry reaction which she was in this bad a mood.

"Just go and mind-wipe the other vampires will you?" I said

She rolled her eyes and the glass of the potion reformed the remainder of the liquid sliding back into it. I didn't quite have the will to tell her that she'd have to go all around Forks to find the two adult vampires.

She took it the floating now perfectly complete potion bottle in one hand and stormed off into school to find the rest of the vampires wherever they may be.

I looked down at Edward and Alice, any marks of the glass had disappeared skin once again perfect. I didn't know how long they would be out for could be hours could be seconds. I turned but Anastasia had gone, what did she expect me to do with these bodies?


	47. A Pinch of Fairy Dust

**Any references to original Twilight characters belong to Stephenie Meyer **

**Apov**

I stormed down the school corridor banging all the open locker doors closed so the noise echoed loudly. Anything to try and keep myself awake and drown out the throbbing in my head. Lights flickered slightly above me as my tiredness messed with my magic.

Finding vampires was trickier than finding creatures of magic, I couldn't sense them as well. Still two down, that had to count for a good thing. They would be unconscious for about ten hours I had hit them so hard, I was just in too bad a mood to bother doing it gently or hypnotise them into taking them themselves. Maybe I would go easier on their siblings.

I spotted Scorpius looking round a corner at the end of the hallway, maybe he could show me where the vampires were I didn't want to have concentrate hard enough to find them.

I hadn't told Bella but Zarbien, Coral and I had ended up getting very very drunk last night at a magical bar which although was great fun also had left me very very tired. It had been all I could do to get home and now I was bearing a magical hangover which would put your average human into a coma.

I came up to Scorpius.

"Scorpius" I said without emotion

He turned his head to look round to me and held up a hand looking back round the corner "Quiet wait for it, wait for it"

I frowned and looked round the corner and then a sound like a bomb went off and I jumped as colours flew everywhere, colours humans didn't even know about yet. They flew around like dozens of fireworks exploding into tiny bursts of light letting loose thousands of fairies about the size of a thumbnail spreading fairy dust everywhere like showers. They collided into one another spinning around and I ducked to avoid three zooming over my head.

Scorpius burst out laughing.

The humans were perfectly oblivious the dust gathering in their hair without the slightest idea. I however was not quite so pleased.

"Scorpius" I protested shaking my head trying get the dust off

He leaned on the locker a grin on his face "Yes sorry couldn't resist"

"Where did you get your hands on so many fairies?" I asked

He tapped his nose "Connections"

I stared at him and looked round the corner to where the shining cage he released them from was.

Most of them were whizzing down the corridor humming like crazy. I bet this was illegal.

"You do realise they are going to spread all over Forks" I said in slight dismay

"Yep and they are going to paint this town so many colours, a good way of leaving my mark" he smiled

I folded my arms "No way am I living in a colourful wonderland, I'm getting rid of those fairies first opportunity. Speaking of which how did you know they would instinctively put up their glamour, how did you know the humans wouldn't see this?" said indicating the rainbow coloured hall.

"I didn't" Scorpius grinned wickedly

I raised my eyebrows.

"What's up with you?" he said scrutinizing me

"Oh" I said "Yesterday I went to Port-Angeles and got very drunk on magical drinks"

"Hangover then?" he said

I nodded clutching my head

He gave me a sympathetic look and put his hand on my shoulder. All of a sudden I felt a little more awake, had he cast a spell? No.

"I've actually had a good week up to today. Met an old friend and finally got in contact with my boyfriend" I said

He took his hand off my shoulder "Is this the high class Zeke you were speaking of before?"

I nodded

"How did you get in contact with him? Isn't he at Darkhalls?" Scorpius said questioningly

I nodded "He broke into the mirror network and talked to me for a night"

Scorpius raised an eyebrow "Rule breaker eh? Maybe we'll be friends"

Zeke was certainly not a rule breaker, the mirror was a total anomaly. At this comment I looked Scorpius up and down from his old boots to his scruffy ponytail. Zeke making friends with Scorpius, a daredevil covered in fairy dust from his own prank, impossible.

I didn't say anything.

"Come on, you can come to my house and I'll get you a potion that'll get rid of that hangover" he said with a smile

I thought about it and saw little harm in the request besides I have to get out if this school.

_Say no _Zarbien said

_Why _I replied

_Because his familiar is mocking me and if I have to look at him for one more minute I am going to rip his stinger off _Zarbien growled

I looked down at him wondering what his problem was. Scorpius's familiar was hiding because obviously a large scorpion would throw some humans into panic.

Zarbien's attention had now left me and was now addressing Scorpius's familiar again which had grown to a larger size. Scorpius's familiar was clearly mocking him again.

_Bring it on!_ Zarbien yelled and simultaneously Scorpius and I cast spells to stop them as they both lunged at each other wildly

"Calm down" I said out loud as Zarbien writhed in my grip, claws out teeth in full view as he seriously considered turning back into lion form even though we were in a human school.

After a few minutes of soothing Zarbien went still and I put him back on the ground.

"I'll come to your house but first I have to mind-wipe three vampires" I said despite Zarbien's protests

"Meet me at the gate to school" he said unperturbed by vampire statement

I walked off down the corridor to find the vampires in question hearing Scorpius telling off his familiar who had gone sulkily back into hiding.

It took me about twenty minutes to find the three vampires and knock them cold. I knew when they woke up they would have forgotten everything about me and Bella, we were the two people I had set the potion to work on. If they had any sense they would leave us alone now, if this happened again I would not take such a peaceful approach.

After that I headed off to the front gate as we left the school and stepped out into the fresh air Zarbien sat down. I turned to him.

"Come on" I said

_I'm not going_ he said stubbornly turning his head in defiance

_Oh for crying out loud don't be such a cub _I said in exasperation

_I am not going there to be insulted _he said

My patience snapped _Fine you stay I'm going _

I walked off leaving Zarbien sitting there offended. A few seconds later he was running along beside me as I parted the mist with a spell so I could see Scorpius up ahead.

We approached and stopped before him. I could feel the hate emanating off Zarbien as he glared at Scorpius's scorpion.

"So which way to your house?" I asked wanting to break the growing tension

Scorpius jerked his head in a direction and I followed as we left the school.

"Are we going to walk?" I said annoyed, my legs were tired and my hangover was killing me. If it meant a lot of walking I would rather take Bella's run down truck.

"Of course not, just getting out of sight" he said and reached into his pocket pulling out a few small gold item, they looked like a tiny gold marbles with carving etched into them, magician runes. My eyes widened as a large magical force hit me. They were Sarlanta beads, only proper magicians had them these days, they were very very rare.

"Where did you get those?" I demanded stunned. Scorpius obviously wasn't a magician.

He grinned jingling them in his hands "Inheritance present – but I'm no magician"

He threw them in the air and they zoomed around him, me and our familiars spinning wildly in circles until they were so fast they were just a blur and all I could see was gold.

When it cleared I was in a house. I was stunned, very stunned.

"Well that explains why you don't have a car" was all I could say

I looked around, now this, _this_, is the kind of house I should be living in. It was huge, magical objects littered everywhere. Magical plants magical potions everything, some kind of magical egg sitting in one corner. The whole room was bathed in the warm feel of magic. This only made me hate Bella's father more.

It didn't remind me of Zeke's house though, Zeke's was a honest to God mansion but everything was in an order not in this kind of mess plus his house had several servants whilst I knew we were alone.

I smiled.

_Nice_ Zarbien said in my head despite himself now in lion form

"So about that hangover and tiredness" Scorpius said walking over to a huge bookcase which had potions holding up books.

Broken out of my thoughts I looked at him. I wasn't tired now, I still had a splitting headache but all this had brought me back.

He pulled out a dark green potion and threw it to me. I was a good catch.

"That'll get rid of your hangover, it's strong" he said

If I was the kind of girl who felt a lot of guilt – like Bella – I would have then. This looked like an expensive potion and I had assumed Scorpius wasn't the richest warlock in the world. Though seeing his house he wasn't as bad off as I had assumed.

Plus those Sarlanta beads he had inherited must have cost his ancestors a fortune (magicians wouldn't sell those easily). I wished I had some.

I took a swig of the potion and in about ten seconds suddenly felt like I had taken a dozen pep pills to keep me awake. My headache had completely vanished. I felt like I could run a mile.

I looked at Scorpius "Thanks" I said and threw the potion back to him

"Welcome" he said putting it back on the shelf

Then he pulled out his own potion this ones colour I couldn't determine. My eyes were drawn away as I looked at it. I blinked a little trying to look back.

"What's that?" I asked

"Oh this" he said after he had drained the whole bottle and sticking out his tongue in distaste "My medicine"

"For what?" I asked

"Don't ask" he advised

I raised an eyebrow debating whether to ask until he told me but decided against it. After all I had just used up some of his hangover potion myself, which by the quality of its effect was not cheap.

"You'll have to excuse all the clutter" he said "I'm not exactly the tidiest warlock in the world"

"Really I hadn't noticed" I said sarcastically stepping over a few objects

Then I made the mistake of looking up towards him whilst stepping forward and tripped over on some kind of magical object. I wasn't at all clumsy like Bella but this floor was like a minefield.

I fell forwards and Scorpius jumped towards me and grabbed my arms before I fell onto the floor. Fast reactions.

I was about to tell him that I didn't need his help and that I was perfectly able of keeping my balance on my own but then at my fall something I had taken yesterday fell out of my pocket.

I had literally no early notice whatsoever that it was going fall and in less than a millisecond the orb I had taken from Sebastian fell to the ground and exploded.


	48. Sebastian's Orb

**So far this story has been a K+ and I'm pretty sure it lived up to that rating but now I've decided that it perhaps should be raised up to a T. This chapter anyway would be a rating T. If anyone disagrees please put it in a review because I'm still not sure whether to change it. **

**Extra note: This chapter will make little sense if you didn't read the very end of the last one, so just as a brief reminder: "**_**I literally had no warning whatsoever that it was going to fall and in less than a millisecond the orb I had taken from Sebastian fell to the ground and exploded.**_**" **

**Apov**

I repelled backwards in shock and so did Scorpius gagging as pink and green smoke flooded out of the sphere in all directions. I turned my head covering my mouth coughing but in seconds the mere scent of the sphere had wafted up my nose and into my brain, that was enough.

My mind went totally blank as the siren like magic of the orb hit me, suddenly nothing seemed to matter anymore. My gaze drifted blindly around the room as the smoked cleared taking nothing in until my eyes found Scorpius across the room who was wearing a dazed expression as if he had been hit on the head by a club.

He looked around eyes slightly out of focus, looked towards me and blinked a couple of times eyes resetting. He seemed to frown at me and walked a little forward eyeing me as if he'd never seen me before.

_What are you doing? Are you okay?_ Zarbien said in my mind sounding confused and mildly alarmed

I could hear his words loud and clear but couldn't quite process them. What was he saying? Some kind of question? Words didn't seem to make sense anymore they were just meaningless vibrations in the air.

My gaze was still on Scorpius who looked as if he were debating whether or not to approach me. My mind was slowly forgetting the rest of my knowledge, contacts, magic, logic everything was leaking out of my brain fast.

Suddenly a huge black-maned lion leapt in front of me protectively and growled at Scorpius looking ready to pounce. Where did a lion come from? I couldn't remember the lion's name but it looked pretty familiar. It was also followed by a gigantic Scorpion at least as big as the lion if not more so. It jumped in front of Scorpius clearly unsure whether he should be stopping Scorpius from approaching me or protecting Scorpius from the angry lion.

_Stay away from him Anastasia, you don't know what you're doing_

Who was saying that, was it the lion? I wondered what I should be doing, should I cast a spell to get rid of this lion? Why was it talking to me anyway?

I looked back at Scorpius whose eyes were now shining white-blue almost luminous, he looked back at me from the scorpion as if concluding a complicated decision then raised one hand said in a rather drunken voice spoke a spell which I forgot as soon as I heard. The spell hit the scorpion with a strong blast.

It ricocheted backwards falling over in a tangle of huge armoured legs and scrambled back up in a wounded fashion climbing up the wall to re-enter the scene. The lion pounced towards Scorpius with a roar. I breathed in sharply, I didn't want it to hurt Scorpius, I _really_ didn't but I couldn't remember any spells to stop it.

Scorpius didn't even move his hand this time just stared at the lion which dropped like a rock in mid jump crashing to the ground, now presumably unconscious. I looked at it for a second then back at Scorpius who had officially restrained the Scorpion which was still writhing.

Scorpius stepped around the huge motionless lion towards me and stopped when he was about a foot away. I just stood there staring at him, into his new white eyes shining like stars, staring at his white skin and long white hair too, he was a true vision in white, like some kind of angel.

His pale hand moved across my cheek as if to check I was real, then he reached down and kissed me full on the mouth. I caught my breath then wrapped my arms around his neck kissing him back.

His kiss was fierce more than anything else his tongue was soon fighting mine for dominance and winning. His cool hands threaded through my hair and down my back gripping me tightly letting out a slight groan whenever there was a gap between our lips.

He pushed me backwards until I slammed into the wall of the room with some force, he broke off from the kiss as my head jolted from impact and started both kissing and biting my neck so I didn't even notice the pain at the back of my head.

Then I heard that lion's voice in my head again.

_Anastasia stop it, I can't move! _

What was he saying? I wasn't really listening

_Anastasia look at what you're doing, think!_

He was speaking gibberish inside my head. I ignored him and turned back to Scorpius, I had forgotten too much to listen to unimportant prattle. I just remembered basic telekinesis though and snapped my fingers on one hand and heard Scorpius's belt unbuckle.

He stopped kissing my neck and looked at my face for a second and I saw a small dazed drunken smile cross his face, then he grabbed me by the shoulders and swung me roughly round to face the wall.

My head was ringing with that shouting lion but I was quickly loosing the ability to remember how to stand on my own two feet let alone recognise something as complicated as speech. My legs gave way under me, how did I work those things again? I probably would have gone crashing to the floor altogether had Scorpius not grabbed by the back of my collar.

I felt his finger run a line down my back as I stared downwards at my black boots. Presumably he was casting some kind of spell because as his finger passed down my dress it and everything under it tore neatly down the line.

I shrugged my shoulders getting that cumbersome dress off, maybe without its weight on me I'd remember how to stand, it was probably what was dragging me down anyway, my near empty brain couldn't think of a better reason.

I felt an arm wrap itself round my waist and then felt Scorpius's hair on my shoulder and his tongue at my neck. I felt my eyes practically rolled to the back of my head.

Then I yelled as I felt a pain shoot through me shocking me. I grabbed the shelf on the nearby wall for support digging my nails into the wood and my teeth into my lip. Oh holy shit!

The arm around my waist tightened and I bit straight threw my lip tasting blood in my mouth as a new continuous feeling hit me like a hammer drive. I let out several cries totally forgetting to breathe. My legs gave up any attempt to stand so I was completely supported by Scorpius.

Inside my mind was screaming so wildly that I couldn't even hear whatever that lion was saying over the rushes of repetitive pain. It wasn't a bad pain it was intense and shocking but good getting harder and harder making me feel more and more dazed.

The wall cracked in front of me, jagged lines going up the concrete and heard several potion bottles explode as psychic energy burst out of me with no control. Magic shooting out of me like lightning bolts breaking dozens of things as my mind whirled in circles.

Then I started screaming for real flinging my head upwards trying arch my back totally involuntarily. I didn't seem to be able to do anything voluntarily at the moment. I didn't seem to have any control over my own thoughts let alone my own body.

After one last mind explosion either the pain or the brain loss won me over and I blacked out.

**Please Review**


	49. Don't Cry

**Any references to Twilight belong to Stephenie Meyer**

**Apov**

My head hurt like hell itself. My eyes blinked a couple of times as my world regained focus. I saw a high roof that wasn't mine and felt not my sister's father's uncomfortable couch below me but a bed, a soft proper bed.

I sat up a bit resting on my elbows and looked around a room filled with scattered magical artefacts, my head felt strangely empty but as my eyes reached a desk against the wall where Scorpius was sitting looking awkwardly at me a truth hit me like a battering ram.

My hands flew to my mouth in horror and I jumped violently.

"Oh my _God!_" I cried

"Yeah" said Scorpius from the other side of the room "About that..."

I wasn't listening I was practically hyperventilating. Oh my God. I couldn't believe my own memory, that couldn't of happened that just couldn't have happened, the Gods just weren't that cruel.

"Anastasia?" Scorpius said sounding a little wary

All the candles sparked up like jets of flame as I jumped up shaking like a leaf. Thankfully I was fully clothed, my dress re-stitched no doubt by Scorpius's magic. Oh God, how could this happen?

"Zarbien" I cried spotting him lying unconscious on the floor

I fell to my knees and shook him "Zarbien, Zarbien wake up!"

"He's fine" said Scorpius taking a step towards me

"Stay away from me!" I shouted and he stopped dead

He bit his lip "Look Anastasia-"

"Stop it!" I shouted clapping my hands over my ears "Just stop talking, don't talk to me, don't ever talk to me again!"

_Anastasia? _Zarbien voice said sleepily eyes finding mine

"Oh you're okay" I said immensely relieved

_What...what happened? _He asked groggily

"Let's get out of here" was all my reply was.

Scorpius took another step forward "Look don't, neither of us had any real control over what happened now can you please just calm down?"

I stared at him "Calm down?" I said as if the word wasn't in my vocabulary "Calm down how the hell do you expect me to _calm down_?"

He looked as if he didn't have the best answer to this and I didn't care, all I wanted was to be out of this house and as far away from him as was magically possible.

Zarbien had begun growling at Scorpius as if intending to pounce on him and despite how much I would have liked to have seen Scorpius torn to pieces in this moment something made me warn Zarbien off, I presumed it was something to do with the memory of how Scorpius had blasted Zarbien with some unseen very powerful force last night, I still had no idea what he had done.

Technically I didn't warn Zarbien off by speaking to him, my mind was too busy being half hysterical to do that, instead I just quite literally turned tail and ran out of the room with the speed of a horrified cheetah.

I burst out of the house ripping the doors off their hinges just by looking at them I was so distressed. My magic had no control. Eventually I broke out of the house into the open forest and looked around seeing trees in all directions. Where was I?

Zarbien was quick at my heels bounding through the broken doors landing at my side giant paws cutting into the dirt.

_Get on _

I jumped on his back without and he started running so fast my surroundings soon became a blur. Every bound was a slight relief as I got further and further away from Scorpius and his home. I couldn't even believe that had happened, that was so not me, what would happened if Zeke ever found out? He was the one person I would never betray – well him and my father – but I sure as hell had now. I felt damaged and dirty all over, this was just wrong so wrong, what in all the magical universe had come over me? I was sure I had more control than that, I was absolutely positive that I loved Zeke enough to not be overpowered by such a thing even if it was extremely powerful.

As I rode amongst everything else that was whirling around in my brain I spared a thought as to where I was. This clearly wasn't anywhere near Forks this forest was enchanted I could tell, just by looking at the trees which were old and ancient. I could see the odd magical creature flitting about, the air tasted different and magic was radiating all around me.

_Stop! _I thought causing Zarbien to stop so suddenly I was nearly thrown over his head.

Riding randomly through here would get me nowhere, I had to find out where I was, there were forests in the magical world which you could be riding through for months before you found the other side.

Now what was I going to do?

I heard Zarbien's timid thought and looked at him in fury

"There is no way I am ever going back there, how can you even think that? Do you know nothing about me?" I yelled hitting him emotionally where I knew it really hurt

Right now I honestly didn't care if I hurt his feeling and gave him a look which made him not even speak the logic which could possibly make me change my mind.

Not that I would change my mind now, I was so distressed right now I would rather rot in this forest and be killed by its inhabitants than go crawling back to Scorpius with my tail between my legs, right now he seemed worse than anything this enchanted forest could conjure up, just the thought of him made me shiver.

I knew I was being stupid and irrational but honestly couldn't care less.

I climbed off Zarbien and jumped onto the ground with a thud sending a few sprites running away.

My eyes flicked around examining where I was looking up at the orange sky which suggested I was not on a human continent. There were many continents humans didn't know about, they were simply banned and steered away by magical law. (Whenever Bella or I refer to human world we usually just mean the limit of your average human's knowledge but we can also mean magical countries abroad).

There were some birds perched high in the trees making unusual musical sounds which were clearly not from the human world either.

My head fell into my hands as I choked out some shock. Not quite sobs but close enough, I was just glad no-one was here to see it, I _never_ let people see me cry. I was just overcome and I didn't care what anyone said I was certainly not overreacting.

_Don't cry_ Zarbien said uselessly

I lifted my head from my hands trying to regain myself, knowing that I was making a fool of myself even if only Zarbien was here to see it. Don't look so gad damn weak, be strong, like you've always been. It was an accident. I repeated that thought again and again in my head until the words had almost no meaning.

I pulled myself together and was just planning my next move when I felt a vibration under my feet and suddenly all the birds flew away along with any other life in the clearing, I looked around and the vibrating became like a small earthquake so much that I fell backwards landing embarrassingly on my back and a roaring sound started to sound getting closer as if a stampede were heading my way.

Oh no.

Suddenly the ground exploded before me as a monster fifty times my size burst out of the ground before me sending dirt flying everywhere.

It looked like an insect creature and was absolutely massive. It had dozens of long green legs each of which were scaly like that of a lizard. Its body was bloated and red with spikes bursting from its back. Its tail was also scaly but thicker with a tail that was club like with huge jagged dagger like instruments sticking out. Each of these things were awful but what was worst was it's head, it had sharp pincers clicking sideways across a circular mouth which looked as if it were filled with knives like swords rotating around and around with a disgusting scraping sound, I couldn't even count how many bloodshot eyes it possessed each glaring down at me with an expression of hunger.

My mouth fell open in terror. I had no idea what this was all I knew was that no one on this earth could save me now.

My luck had run out.


	50. Racing Fairies

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Scorpius **

**I'll give a smile to any reviewer which gets me 100 reviews.  
**

**Bpov**

A lot of unusual things have happened to me over my years. Each of which had Anastasia placed somewhere distinctly in the magical mix and by this time I was used to – not prepared but used to – quite a lot of things most humans would not believe let alone experience in a whole lifetime.

The crazy things that had put me in this disposition were like the time I had mixed up my parents evening slip with Anastasia's magical trading notification which she had already signed consent to, I signed another unfortunate option on that sheet involving dwarf trade and by magical law that form legally stated that I had willingly sold myself into dwarf slavery, Anastasia had to cross a whole country to get me back.

An experience like that couldn't fully be blamed on Anastasia after all it was I who sighed myself up not her. Still she had cast a spell to disguise it as a parents evening slip to deter our mother. Still there were plenty of disasters which had been completely her fault.

Like the time Anastasia had signed me up for a necromancy experimentation course, they needed a human subject with a considerable amount of knowledge of the magical world and Anastasia owed them a favour. She chose me as a candidate and to persuade me she claimed it would cure my fear of ghosts which I saw whenever I entered a hospital or graveyard now, unfortunately these necromancers took a slightly too direct approach for my liking and I had just escaped in time.

Some of these experiences I could learn from, like I learned _never_ to let Anastasia mess with my looks. Several cases had taught me this but probably the most significant one was when I was eight and she was seven and she tried to cast a spell to get rid of my the rash I had gained due to her bringing a strange fluffy magical creature in the house of unknown origin. Her attempt to fix the rash caused me to shoot back and hit the wall, my eyes turned bright blue and my hair sizzled to only a couple of shades away from scarlet. She had offered more than once to fix them so they were how they were before but I always refused lest I end up with green hair and orange eyes permanently.

But these took several repeated experiences. In most individual cases I was simply too scared to learn anything. I was scared at the minute as I was pursued by a thousand flying mythical creatures and ran for the house.

I had landed in this situation at school at the front entrance just after Anastasia in a foul mood had knocked out two class two vampires and then wandered off without a word to find the three others which dwelt in school leaving me alone with them.

I was looking down at the first two deciding what to do with the bodies, people would be arriving soon and surely some would come this way, I was pretty sure me and two unbreathing bodies would raise some questions. As I considered dragging them into the bushes I head a humming sound as if I were near a bee hive accompanied with a squeaky noise too.

I looked through the glass door and my mouth fell open as I saw a cloud of brightly coloured little fairies shooting down the corridor like a Technicolor tidal wave. I gave a scream and ran like hell as they burst through the door in their numbers and flew in all directions up left right forward everywhere to escape the school.

I arrived at my truck still yelling attracting well pretty much everyone's attention, still they would be screaming too if they could see what I was seeing. I got into the truck and slammed the door shut and drove like hell was chasing me. Fairies in generally love to follow things especially upset or excited people and they seemed to sense my fear and so a swarm followed me in pursuit of the ctruck which I was driving at its fastest which since Anastasia had tampered with it was about the speed of a well functioning race car. The fairies were grabbing onto the sides of the truck trying to crawl inside with their sticky fairy hands.

I saw them through the wing mirror and tried to throw them off by swerving sharply left and right across the road throwing them off so they hit nearby trees dust covering the road like new lines or got crushed by my truck's back wheels. I nearly took out a couple of fellow human drivers as I zoomed around the road like a lunatic. If a police officer saw this I would be arrested and either Charlie would have to bail me out or I'd get Anastasia to hypnotise them.

When I saw the house ahead I screeched to a halt so fast dust shot of the wheels and they air bag exploded in front of me. I spared little thought of this diving out of the car as the fairies caught up fast and grabbed hold off my hair and clothes and I got a good look at their colourful needle sharp teeth.

I cried out shaking my head and ran towards the house until I was within its protective field. All the fairies that tried to break the barrier stopped in mid-flight and started buzzing around uselessly. The ones that had entered the shield with I pushed off myself ripping off my jacket and stamped on them until their little buzzing ceased. Many would find this cruel but I'd met flesh eating fairies before and I didn't even want to know if these were anything similar. I looked back as they banged their minute hands and beat their tiny wings around Anastasia's shield spell, I gave a sigh of relief, I was safe here.

I wandered back into the house and tried to regain control of my breath. They almost certainly weren't flesh eating fairies, most of the humans would have reacted to being eating alive, they were clearly the kind of fairies that trailed fairy dust and stole hair from their nests, I expected they were similar to the ones that had chased me out of the forest a few days previously and just ate the skin of dead humans, still I didn't want to chance it knowing how bad fairies could go.

Anastasia wasn't home, maybe she was preoccupied with the fairies or going after the two adult-looking Cullen's. Who knows wherever she was she wasn't here.

As I wandered into the living room I wondered how I could ever show my face in school again? If Anastasia got rid of all those fairies and that was a fairly large _IF_ then how could I face all the students at school who had seen my yelling my head off running and waving my arms around like a complete lunatic to what they saw as simply thin empty air.

If this was Anastasia's way of getting me to go get out of Forks and back to phoenix or somewhere else I had to hand it to her it was a good one, cruel but good. I wasn't going to live in an environment like this bursting with fairies but still I had thought that Anastasia understood the necessity of coming to Forks, else why had she not done something sooner?

Anastasia rarely let anything beat her. Surely nothing could freak her so badly she'd surrender her pride and flee back to civilisation. That's when I started properly looking back on all the trouble that had gone on over the years and sat down on the sofa in the living room and let my breath balance out and my heart regain its normal rate (or at least the rate that should be normal for a human, mine was often like this).

As I thought over them I put them in perspective, once I'd done that what happened next although immediately unexpected and frightening I would still put as but an amber alert in my list of tragedies.

What happened was but a few feet in front of me a bright light erupted and huge portal shone lighting the room up with a beautiful and horrifying glow.


	51. Eaten, Crushed or Burnt Alive?

**Disclaimer: Any reference to the ordinary Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer **

**Bpov**

I had fought a number of dangerous creatures over my years such as vampires, angry weather witches, werewolves, ghouls, once even a group of drunken class six nymphs. Those were only a small fraction of my grand total. But honestly the worst I had ever at to face was probably a medium sized troll (which by the way are not as stupid as human Hollywood portrays) but even then I'd had some help.

I hadn't yet been enrolled into Darkhalls academy so my magical potential was nowhere near where it could be one day, I was still just a teenager, a brilliant powerful teenager compared to any human, but a teenager none the less.

As I stared up from the ground at the monstrous creature above me whose species I couldn't even determine despite all my magical study I realised how truly weak I was in such a situation, how much I had to learn. And the worst thing was knowing that I never would learn it because I was about to be eaten.

The insect creature filled the whole clearing blocking the sun so I was draped in a shadow. Zarbien leapt over my head and landed in front of me poised to defend.

I threw some of the strongest spells I knew at the monster; it didn't even effect it, the most I got from it was a hiss of pain, I was clearly just making it angrier.

I honestly wasn't even sure if the creature was looking at Zarbien with any of those billion eyes. It moved one long insect leg and swung it sideways throwing Zarbien across the clearing as if he were no stronger than a rag doll.

"Zarbien!" I cried jumping up to my feet as he smashed through a thick tree trunk literally cutting the tree in half from the base.

The top half immediately fell downwards in my direction

_Look out!_ Zarbien yelled

I held up my hands and the huge tree stopped in mid fall. I held it there in mid fall. I felt some sweat build on my brow as I struggled to hold it up, this tree was huge, larger than most human trees, it was a very very large object and had the added bonus of being no doubt thousands if not hundreds of thousands of years old and was full of magic.

I gave a heave putting all my strength and all my magic into throwing it telekinetically at the monster. My legs gave way at the loss of magic. It hit it with a crash and the monster jerked backwards in a scramble of legs giving a piercing cry which made me clap my hands to my ears.

It jerked the tree off hurling away from itself with tremendous brute force so it flew into the other trees then turned back to loom over me again as Zarbien jumped back to my side. I clutched him from the ground, his touch could raise my magic level but not nearly enough to have any effect on this beast.

I looked up at Zarbien

_It's been a pleasure _he said

I nodded _Likewise _

I looked up at the creature and wondered briefly why it hadn't attacked yet. Still Zarbien and I had decided a long time ago that if we were to die we were going to die fighting, together, side by side. So with all the strength I had left – which was next to nothing – I shot a few more spells and then heard an approaching clicking noise.

I turned my head and saw things crawling to the edges of the clearing, as they came closer I saw creatures which looked like miniature versions of the massive beast before me, they were around my height and were circling the clearing at all angles surrounding us. Offspring.

The beast was a mother and she was here to feed her kids.

Zarbien gave me one last determined look and I nodded never feeling prouder of my familiar as he launched towards the miniature monsters with a roar that deafened.

The mother creature seemed to be watching the fight clearly wanting to train her young in combat so didn't offer her kid any help as Zarbien began tearing it apart with his giant jaws. The creatures from the opposite side of the clearing scuttled towards me pincers snapping.

I tried to throw a spell but had literally no energy left and nothing happened. I clearly wasn't going to die fighting, I couldn't even cast a spell. As the creatures were feet away from me I looked towards Zarbien wanting him to be the last thing I saw before I was torn to pieces. It looked like he had killed one of the monsters but now was fighting three of its brothers and sisters, they were lashing at Zarbien's flesh pinning him down sending blood everywhere.

It wasn't fair it wasn't right, this shouldn't happen. No. Then suddenly an eruption went off and all the young insect creatures burst into blue flame around me screeching and writhing as they were incinerated my magical fire their bodies burning to ashes. My jaw dropped, did I do that? I didn't cast a spell? How did I do that?

Zarbien had collapsed onto the floor in a pool of blood but he was alive I could sense it. The fire spread to the trees sending them burning blue the fire quickly spreading all around. The monstrous creature above me gave a howl of rage and pain at her young's disappearance and then she went wild at the sight of the fire stamping everywhere so I was almost crushed as her legs jabbed into the ground. She was clearly too scared of the fire to return to the safety of underground and in her fear was going to end up crushing me alive.

Then a bright light appeared around Zarbien, so bright that it made me cover my eyes actually dragging my gaze away from the monster which in confusion and surprise thundered away, not underground this time but simply crashing through the flaming trees knocking them down like they were nothing but twigs. I looked at it squinting as slight colours emerged around it, Zarbien vanished in its light, it was a portal.

I tried to stand legs almost giving way under me and staggered forward as the flames licked up the trees burning their support surrounding me as the glade grew hotter and hotter.

My legs collapsed and I found myself crawling as the trees began to fall like dominoes crashing around me sending flashes of ruthless fire everywhere. I dragged myself to the portal, thinking that wherever it took me, it couldn't possibly be worse than here.

White light surrounded me as the portal engulfed me and I felt like my stomach had disappeared and was being hurled around and around, barely a second later I appeared in a familiar house on the floor. Was I hallucinating? I fell to the floor on my back staring up at the ceiling.

Everything started to go blurry, the last thing I saw before I lost consciousness was a fuzzy human-looking body leaning over me, a body with familiar frightened bright blue eyes.


	52. Healing Potions

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Scorpius**

**Bpov**

I sat on the sofa in utter bafflement and quite a considerable amount of fear looking up at the shining thing before me when the huge body of Zarbien burst through the light, and crashed into the living room smashing the coffee table into splinters. I didn't spare a thought for it, Zarbien was in lion form and covered in blood. It must be a portal, it had to be.

"Zarbien" I cried jumping up "Zarbien!"

I shook his head and rustled his dark mane which he hated trying to wake him up but he seemed utterly out of it. If I didn't know how tough Zarbien was (next to indestructible) I would honestly say he was dead.

"Zarbien where's Anastasia?" I shouted

They never left each others side, they were always together. So if Zarbien was here where the hell was my sister?

I looked round frantically wondering what to do as blood seeped through the carpet. Should I go through the portal and see if she was there? Did I have the guts? She was my sister of course I did.

But then I saw her pale hand come out of the portal and soon her body was dragged through to. She fell to the ground flat on her back next to Zarbien staring blindly up at the ceiling. I gave a scream as I saw her wounded, splattered with blood and scarred all over.

"Anastasia" I cried leaning over "Anastasia wake up! Wake up!"

But her eyes had closed head turning sideways limply.

For one fleeting moment I thought she was dead my whole world stopped, freezing to nothing but then saw she was still breathing, in a raspy choking way, two of the talismans around her neck glowing luminously in the room which seemed to have gone very dark all of a sudden. I knew one was a healing talisman, back in phoenix that was often put to good use, I had no-idea what the other one was.

I jumped up knowing that if this was a magical injury – which it almost certainly was – then the stupid human recovery position would be useless along with any other human treatment. I needed a healing potion and fast. I ran to Anastasia's suitcase and yanked it open – me and Anastasia were the only ones who could open it – then ran through her potion bottles.

"Healing, healing, healing, healing? Oh come one which one are you?" I said desperately to the potions flicking through them frantically no knowledge to their individual functions. They were all in different sized potion bottles, some bubbling, some sludgy in many many different colours but none of them had bloody labels.

Healing potions were mostly purple, I knew that much from experience for I had used more than I could count. I pulled out three purple potions knowing that surely one of them would be healing, I was ready to take the risk. I ran back to Anastasia and opened her mouth which still held some blood.

"Drink them Anastasia, drink them" I said pouring the contents into her mouth "I command you to work on Anastasia" I said out loud to the potions. Anastasia always used her magic to make potions work to specific people but all I could use were words.

As the third one went in her mouth she spluttered coughing half of it up, her eyes opened slightly looking at me in confusion.

"Don't move, don't try and do anything. I'm going to get someone to help you" I said wondering how exactly I was going to get into contact with another magical creature

The healing spell along with the healing talisman seemed to be working most of her scars fading away and the blood flow slowing down. Now the real casualty was Zarbien who looked as if someone had been trying to eat him, large chunks of his back were just gone. Where the hell had they been?

"Anastasia, Anastasia who did this to you? Was it the vampires?" I asked as her eyes moved around the room. I couldn't see the vampires doing this to her, they knew so little about our world with Zarbien she could probably individually take them out.

She looked around dazed

"Vampires?" she repeated faintly as if she'd never heard of the concept

"No? You know what it doesn't matter just get better right now. Stay still and let the potions work"

Anastasia blinked a few times looking at the floor as the blood seeped through the carpet

"Lie down" I ordered

"Alright" she said in a distant voice "Just one question"

My heart sunk, this was going to be some sarcastic comment about me ordering her about. Perhaps she wasn't as badly injured as I thought.

"Yes?" I asked

She looked up at me with a frown "Who the hell are you?"

I stared down at her "_What_?"

**For people confused about the eye colour thing I devised a simple solution. It was brought to my attention a few chapters ago my a reviewer called **_**Stariinights**_** that Bella's eyes weren't blue as I had said in the second chapter, I personally had always imagined Bella with blue eyes and so instead of changing my story I simply made it so Anastasia had cast a spell during her childhood which had had a bad effect on Bella's eyes and hair colour. This is explained in more detail in chapter 50. **


	53. Big Bad Brother

**Disclaimer: Any references to the original Twilight belong to Stephenie Meyer**

**Spov**

I had my eyes closed and sighed in content watching Anastasia crawl through the portal. She was tough if a little unpredictable, I certainly hadn't expected her to leg it out of the house faster than a sprite on a speed potion into the open forest, she must be seriously loyal to this Zeke of hers to freak out so bad.

I opened my eyes and saw the inside of my house again, she'd be fine now she was a fighter, a fighter with a healing talisman to help.

I looked round the empty room and frowned at my floor, it really could do with a clean, I always knew it was bad but never expected such a mess could get me in this much trouble. I clicked my fingers and instantly everything flew back into its rightful place, anything that was broken from the recent events repairing themselves including the wall.

A smile twitched my lips, so easy, it was at times like this that I enjoyed being me.

"Hello Scorpius" said a cold voice behind me

And it was times like this that I didn't. I winced knowing that voice all too well and slowly turned around to see my older brother.

"Hi Kanan, what are you doing here?" I asked a little meekly as if I didn't know.

Kanan looked a lot like me. We all had white skin and hair and often eyes. This was because all the pigment had been drained out of our appearance, a complicated process but fairly necessary.

Kanan was taller than me, with his hair let loose but neat, unlike me he always had a scowl on his face and had absolutely no sense of humour. He had this look which made you cringe with fear. I had told Anastasia he was at Darkhalls but the truth was that he had never been there, he'd always been looking after me until I finally persuaded him to leave me alone. My familiar ran away at the very sight of him.

"Don't play games with me Scorpius" he said eyes boring into mine making me feel about two inches tall "I felt a power surge equal to a siren infested tidal wave coming from here"

"You did?" I said innocently not particularly surprised

"Yes"

"I was um well, I was just practising some spells and sort of lost control" I said trying to sound convincing whilst holding a shielding spell so he couldn't hack into my head

"Oh please don't even try and lie to me, that was not what happened, I figured it out myself, where's the girl?" he demanded

"She left" I replied now very thankful that she had

"How could you be so STUPID?" Kanan shouted and several things smashed around the room

"This time it wasn't my fault, a _Bulevna_ orb exploded right in front of us both" I said truthfully and pointed to the shrivelled thing on the floor

Kanan shook his head "That wouldn't be enough to control you"

"I had quite literally just taken my medicine, I swear" this was all the truth but it didn't sound like it, even I wouldn't have believed me. He obviously didn't believe me and I knew before Kanan left even if I was very polite and obedient I would have at least one black eye and several magical injuries. Talk about brotherly love.

"Did you have any idea of the risks? You could have _killed_ her" Kanan said

I bit lip and took my gaze to the floor not wanting to meet his eyes. When I did drag my gaze back up him his eyes were wide and his face incredulous with anger

"You _did_ kill her!" he accused

"I brought her back to life again" I said quickly in self defence

"Oh Scorpius" he groaned shutting his eyes in exasperation running his hands through his hair in distress "Why do you do this to me?"

"I had no control over the situation, I was hypnotised" I said uselessly "And besides what do you care that I could have killed her, if she were here now you would have killed her anyway"

"For good reason. What if she figured it out?" he said furiously

"She wouldn't figure it out, no-one ever figures it out" I said. This wasn't strictly true Will had figured it out but considering I spent my whole childhood with him it wasn't that unexpected.

"Scorpius do you know what will happen if our secret's discovered?" he asked

"Yes" I groaned "You've only told me about four million times"

"And it appears none of those times has got the message through" he shouted "If they found out what we are-"

"I know I know I know" I shouted not wanting to hear it again

I took a deep breath "They won't figure it out because I wiped her memory clean of the whole event" I lied making a mental note to do that the next time I saw her

"Don't do this again" he said firmly in a voice which said that if I did he would take serious action. And when my brother takes serious action you did not want to be within ten thousand miles of it.

I nodded wondering vaguely if he would ever let me have a real relationship with another person. Even just ordinary friends, he had really freaked when he found out Will knew, hence my exile to Forks and mine and Will's separation.

Kanan's eyes narrowed misinterpreting my thoughts "This has happened before hasn't it?"

"No" I said instantly

"Don't make me probe your mind Scorpius, I'm stronger than you" he said warningly

It was true he was stronger than me and there was no way I was going to let him search my head for that kind of information, that was private but my shield couldn't hold him off he really drived into my head. Plus my brother wasn't really someone you argued with.

"_Scorpius?_"

"Fine, once last year with an enchantress happy?" I said

The look on his face told me he was certainly not very happy.

"I'm seventeen, I'm not a kid, what is the point of keeping this secret if we not aloud to have some fun" I said exasperated

"Firstly little brother you are not seventeen, your sixteen-"

I scoffed "Yeah for like two more weeks"

"Don't interrupt! Second we can't risk things like that"

"We can't risk having fun" I said to myself. Brilliant.

"What you did was irrational, selfish, dangerous and careless" he scolded

By now I'd had enough, it would dearly cost me but I just rolled my eyes and turned away from him stalking off with the words "Oh shut up you sorry virgin"


	54. Mix Up

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Zarbien **

**Bpov**

I looked down at Anastasia who was staring at me blankly "What?"

"Who are you?" asked Anastasia

I blinked, _what_?

"It's me it's, Bella" I said

"Oh" said Anastasia not looking at all convinced "So then...who am I?"

Maybe it was concussion or some kind of amnesia. Maybe someone had shot poison into her which had made her forget me. But she couldn't forget me, not me, please not me.

I looked at Zarbien in confusion, I wished like Anastasia I could determine his expression as if he were a human being. Could he remember me? If he didn't he might attack me and that would not end well in my direction.

"You're name is Anastasia, I'm your half sister, we're in my father Charlie's house and you just came crashing through a portal" I said hastily

"A portal?" she said

I nodded.

She just raised her eyebrows as if that were a natural phenomenon. Then she tilted her head and looked around the room. Her eyes rested on Zarbien.

"What do you know" she said looking at him "A lion"

My eyes widened. Oh sweet Jesus what had happened to her?

"I don't remember this place" she said looking around

"You hate it, you hate everything that belongs to Charlie except me" I said hoping to get through to her "You think he's beneath you because he's human and you're a witch"

"I'm a witch?" she said sounding surprised

Zarbien looked towards me and gave a pitiful wail.

Anastasia frowned "Did you hear that?" she said "I think-I think that lion just spoke to me"

I sat back down on the sofa. Oh dear lord, I had a lot of explaining to do, perhaps a whole world.

After a short time Charlie arrived home and walked through the living room looking at us. Zarbien safely in cat form.

"Hey Bella what's cooking?" he said

"Oh um I forgot to cook today sorry will you be alright?" I apologized wanting him out the room

"Bella I fed myself for many years before you came along" he said

"I don't know how you managed" I said under my breath

"You-good grief what happened to the table?" he yelped looking at the coffee table that was in splinters

"Oh it was an accident" I said, I wasn't very good when put on the spot

Charlie's eyes flew to Anastasia who was looking at him blankly

"You" he said eyes narrowing

"No it was my fault" I said

Charlie shook his head "You're lying"

"No I'm not" I insisted

"Well I'll be upstairs if you need me" he said after another look at Anastasia

He walked away up the stairs and I looked after him then took a sigh of relief, he was gone.

"Who was he?" Anastasia queried

"Oh that was Charlie" I said

"He seemed...nice" she said simply

My eyes widened "Oh God, we need to get you to a healer this is far far worse than I thought"

My mind flew through some contacts of Anastasia's and struggled to think of a plan my thoughts were only interrupted when the doorbell rang which I ignored it. Clearly Anastasia's shield was down and I didn't want anyone coming in right now, enough fairies had entered on Charlie's arrival. Clearly the town was infested.

Anastasia's head turned toward Zarbien then to me

"The lion wants to say he knows what's wrong" she said

"He does?" I said looking at Zarbien who in cat form was sniffing the potion bottles I had left on the floor contents dripping slightly

She nodded "He said one of the potions you gave me wasn't a healing potion but a memory potion"

"A memory potion?" I said. It explained the memory loss but I was surprised she had a potion like that with her.

Anastasia continued to translate looking a little confused at Zarbien in her head "He said it wasn't meant for witches, he said it was made by vampires, he said it was the potion they bought the other day?"

I had damaged her with her own potion. The irony would not go down well with her when she was back to normal.

She gave me a glance then whispered "Vampires?" She was acting like she didn't know they existed, she was acting...human.

The doorbell rung again and I heard Charlie's voice calling from upstairs

"Bella could you get that?"

I ignored him, a talent I had picked up from Anastasia.

"Aren't you going to answer it?" she asked

"No" I said impatiently "But hold, that potion was full when I gave it too you, you used half of it one the all the Cullens why was it full again?"

She shrugged clearly with no idea what I was talking about

I rolled my eyes and turned to Zarbien

"Why was it full again?" I asked

He circled around the potions and then Anastasia said words which chilled my bones

"He says this was definitely the one they bought previously and she must have given them the wrong potion to the Cullens"

My eyes widened, if she hadn't given the Cullens the memory potion then which potion had she given them?


	55. Jacob Black

**None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Zarbien **

**Bpov**

What the hell had Anastasia given the Cullens? A mystery potion? How did she mix them up? Anastasia always seemed excellent recognising potions even though they all looked the same to me. Then I remembered her lying on the sofa fumbling around on the floor eyes closed, spending most of the drive half asleep. She had been totally out of it.

What if she'd given them a magical poison they could be dead, my stomach curled up and suddenly I found myself almost more worried about the consequences for the Cullens via the mix up than myself; Edward's truly dead face blaring in my mind, golden eyes staring deathly forward unseeing, similar to the zombies me and Anastasia had once run into. Weird, must be the stress.

The doorbell rung for the third time and I heard Charlie again.

"Bella are you deaf?" he shouted from the top of the stairs "The door"

"Fine I'll get it" I said jumping up in annoyance

If I didn't open it Charlie would, at least if I was the one to answer it I could close it quicker thereby letting in less fairies, I assumed they were still flying around the garden now Anastasia's shield had died.

"Come on" I said to Zarbien who followed in cat form

I opened the door a crack and peered to see who was outside, if it were one of the Cullens I would let Zarbien scare them off. I was pretty sure he could take out some vampires or at least hold them off long enough for Anastasia and I to escape.

But outside the door wasn't a Cullen but a boy.

I looked at him blankly, who the hell was he? He had long glossy black hair pulled back with a rubber band at the nape of the neck, little did he know a tiny blue fairy was trying to pull some of it out. His skin was a beautiful silky russet colour if you ignored the sprinkles of fairy dust and his eyes were dark for a human, deep set above the high planes of his cheekbones.

However, my positive opinion of his looks was damaged slightly by the first words out of his mouth.

"You're Isabella Swan aren't you?"

If I weren't so stressed out this would have felt like the first day of school all over again. Why did nobody know the name Bella?

The boy was worse damaged by Zarbien's hiss towards him, I had no idea what this hiss represented but I was sure as hell going to find out.

"Can I help you?" I asked as I fought not to look up as a couple of pink fairies fluttered into the house. I knew I was being rude, I hadn't even asked his name but I had to shut the door before more fairies or worse vampires could get in.

"The chief asked my dad over to watch the game – our TV broke last week. Sort of a reunion I'd guess" he shrugged "I'm Jacob Black by the way"

You have got to be kidding me, watch the game at a time like this, this was...this was just unacceptable. Still if Charlie had invited them I could hardly turn them away.

"Well come on in" I said impatiently

"Yeah" said Jacob "I'll just um, get my dad"

As he turned I shut the door not offering to help. Dear God of all the times to pay a visit.

Charlie walked down the stairs to me.

"Who was it?" he asked

"Jacob Black" I said

A smile spread across Charlie's face "Oh he must have come with Billy"

I moved out of the way whilst he opened the door and headed out to help Jacob with his father who was if I recall correctly in a wheelchair. Of course I vaguely remembered meeting his sisters, but that was years ago. I shut the door behind him and raced back into the living room with Zarbien.

Zarbien ran up to Anastasia who was sitting in a chair now. She jumped as Zarbien came closer clearly not liking the fact that a cat was talking inside her head.

"What did he say" I hissed

"Oh um he said that he's not sure the boy's human" she said

My eyebrows shot up. Oh perfect, I would have locked the door on them but now Charlie was out there.

"What is he?" I asked

There was a pause

"He doesn't know" she shrugged

I felt my heart flop, this was not a time for shrugging, this was a time for action.

"No idea?" I said desperately option whizzing through my mind

"He says his powers – a cat has powers?" she said raising an eyebrow

"Go on" I said ignoring this comment

"He says his _powers_ are much depleted without my help, and if he is supernatural he's is currently in human form and isn't radiating any magic"

"I could see he was in human form I'm not blind" I growled

Zarbien gave a hiss and I took a breath

"Sorry, sorry, I'm just a little stressed right now" I said trying to control my breathing 'little' was an understatement

My magical sister had lost her mind, there were at least five bloodsucking vampires out there under the influence of an unknown potion which Anastasia had directed at us three and fairies all over Forks. Now I could add a possible non-human trying to get into my house to my list.

I let my mind re-vamp.

"We need to get out of here" I said, it was the logical thing to do. I would chance the fairies I needed Anastasia back as soon as was possible considering our resources.

"Zarbien can you get us to one of her magical friends who can fix this?" I asked like a drill sergeant.

Zarbien nodded.

"Okay let's inform Charlie and get going before this non-human has us for dinner and the vampires have us for dessert" I said

If they're still alive for dessert a voice rang in my head chilling me. I ignored it, they were alive, I could just feel it. Now to get away from here...

I ran over to the phone and brought it to my ear.

The door opened and in walked Charlie and Jacob, Jacob pushing who I assumed was Billy, Jacob's father, in a wheelchair.

"I'm going to pretend I don't know you were behind the wheel Jacob" said Charlie sounding both disapproving but in a good mood at the same time

"We get permits early on the rez" Jacob replied

"Sure you do" Charlie laughed.

Before I spoke I took a good look at Billy wondering if he were a non human too. He was Jacob's father so I suppose there was a good chance. Still Renee was Anastasia's mother and I was her sister and we were as human as they come.

He was quite old, heavyset with a face that overflowed, the cheeks resting on his shoulders with creases running through the russet skin like an old leather jacket. And black eyes like his son except his looked both too young and too ancient at the same time, this was nothing new to me I had met many supernatural's with eyes like this and much much worse, they were the kind if eyes that implied he bared a lot of knowledge.

His head turned sideways to me eyes suddenly scrutinizing. I started speaking immediately

"Oh yeah Jessica I am so sorry I totally forgot but don't worry I'll be there, yes I know I promise, see you soon, bye" I said into the silent phone making sure Charlie was listening

"Ch-dad. That was Jessica I totally forgot I promised that I would go over to her house for this sleepover"

Charlie's eyebrows rose. "A sleepover"

I nodded knowing this was an absolutely pathetic excuse, I was not the kind of girl who went to sleepovers, Anastasia would have been able to make up a better excuse or at least hypnotised him into believing whatever I said.

"Yeah you don't mind do you, I mean I promised" I said putting on my best pleading face

Charlie looked taken aback, Jacob look what could be described as disappointed and Billy, well I wasn't sure of his expression under all those wrinkles.

"Couldn't you go tomorrow? We have guests" he said tilting his head to indicate them

"I know" I said what did he think I was stupid, he was the one who looked stupid to me with a fairy nibbling at his ear. "But its not tomorrow its tonight and she can't reorganize it because other people were invited."

He looked like he was going to give in but his eyes lingered over Anastasia who was looking blankly at the three people in the doorway.

"Anastasia was invited too" I added

"She was?" he exclaimed looking astounded

"I was?" she said sounding confused

I nodded yes. This was the most unbelievable thing in the entire world. Anastasia would never be invited to a human sleepover and if she ever was she would never except, she would send the invited away with a flea in their ear and a host of swarming bees.

"Oh Billy Jacob this is my ex-wife's second child – not mine thank the lord - Anastasia Ravenson"

They both looked in her direction and Jacob gave a friendly smile in her direction. More than most humans give her in a lifetime.

"Why would anyone want to have a sleepover with her?" Charlie asked as if she weren't within earshot "Surely she'd give them nightmares"

"You're going off the point dad" I said even though all he said was true

"Oh well, alright and take her with you" he said nodding to Anastasia

"I'll be back tomorrow" I said with a forced smile for smiling was the last thing I felt like doing.

I grabbed Anastasia's arm and ran out of the room away from them all making Anastasia yelp wanting to get out before he could change his mind.

"Let go you're going to rip my arm off" she protested wrenching out of my grasp as I pulled her towards the backdoor.

I rolled my eyes as I opened the back door and ploughed out into the cold the night air tickling my face. I looked up and saw fairies fluttering around observing our appearance and no doubt admiring our long hair.

"What are you looking at?" she asked

I turned to her "You can't see them?"

"See what?" she asked

She doesn't know who she is, her witch senses were in total denial, it would take a while for her second sight to kick in, for now Zarbien and I were the eyes.

"Just the stars I was just looking at the stars" I said not wanting to have to explain "Let's get into my truck"

Was this what it was like for Anastasia all the time, having to explain all these endless magical things to me? To her in normal state to her I was probably even more oblivious than she was now. No wonder she found humans so annoying, I suddenly felt new appreciation for her putting up with me.

The three of us headed for the truck trying to ignore the fairies all around. I felt bad leaving Charlie with those too but without Anastasia to help I didn't have much choice, I couldn't delay any longer so I just had to cross my fingers that he'd be okay.

"Where are we going?" Anastasia queried light headedly

"To get you better" I said opening the truck door with more force than was necessary. Zarbien hadn't exactly informed me yet.

"I feel fine" she said with a shrug going around the other side of the car

I got behind the wheel and Zarbien jumped in the front next to Anastasia. I was scared of hunting for whatever magical being would help Anastasia but my fear of her like this was so strong that I wished there were a much faster way to reach wherever our next destination is but I expected it was far away and Zarbien would find it tiring to carry us both and I was _not_ being left behind.


	56. Joyriding

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Zarbien **

**Oh I should have put this in the last chapter, I'm sorry it took 55 chapters to properly bring Jacob into the story **

**Bpov **

I drove along in the truck passing trees along the road looking up at the dark sky, Anastasia and Zarbien at my side deep in telepathy as I willed my truck to go faster.

I started to debate whether I could find a better means of transport, without Anastasia's power to improve it this truck was barely going over sixty and seemed to be struggling whereas I needed speed, _super_ speed.

Zarbien had informed me that we were going to see Nala an old magical friend of Anastasia's, I personally had never met her and was annoyed I would have to, I wasn't exactly taken with magic.

Still this was urgent and Zarbien directed me along the roads as I tried to ignore the fairies clinging to my clothes and hair, it hadn't taken them long to catch up to us. It was enough to drive you to distraction, especially the ones who shed fairy dust that itched like crazy. After about ten minutes Anastasia had informed me that Zarbien was feeding her memories and some of them seemed kind of familiar to her. This was a good thing I supposed.

"I am a really powerful witch" she said to herself

I smiled to myself knowing that she was good but not that much above average for her power and age, still to someone who knew nothing about magic definitely showed her in a great light. Still only once she went to Darkhalls could we determine how good she was.

"I'm also really mean" she observed

I tilted my head towards her in surprise, I'd heard that comment towards her a million times but not from her herself.

Several hours in we hit trouble, although I was pleased that we were out of Forks and had less fairies around us more pressing complications occurred. Anastasia had been the one to fill up the gas tank with magic whenever it started to run out – it was a great time and money spender – and I had been running on what little real gas had been left now it was getting lesser and lesser as we drove.

I turned to Zarbien "We're running out of gas" I said "Can you tell her the spell to fix it?"

He told her and she tried several times repeating the spell again and again with clearly no idea what she was doing, six times she said it and six times nothing happened, on the seventh the glass in front of the milometer exploded in my face scratching my neck. Nope, she just wasn't herself anymore, she couldn't perform even a simple spell.

I think magic was off the list of solutions.

This was going to be a problem. I thought I could make it to the next gas station, I did have a lucky charm round my neck – a gift. Come on you silly old truck. It chugged forward and I had to admit perhaps Anastasia had had a point about in her opinion towards it.

I spotted one up ahead and went over driving my truck up which sounded as if it were on its last legs.

I got out and shut the door leaving Anastasia and Zarbien inside. I paused.

"You don't have any money on you do you?" I asked instinctively knowing the answer

Anastasia reached into her pocket and drew out some coins

"Human money" I said being more specific

"Oh" she said looking down at her hand "No"

I sighed then looked at a man in an expensive coat and large sunglasses which in my opinion were totally unnecessary this close to somewhere like Forks. H was walking into the small shop that always accompanied a gas station. He looked rich and was coming from a car which looked a million dollars, it had an open roof and was an incredible shade of silver it was waxed so well it almost shone in the darkness, I had next to no knowledge of cars but I knew that this was not the kind of car you don't get easily. But most importantly it was full of gas and looked as if it could drive three hundred miles an hour.

"Anastasia you have that key that can open any human lock don't you?" I said hoping to hell she did

She looked at me blankly "Do I?"

Zarbien jumped onto her lap making her jump and reached into her dress pulling out a bronze key with his teeth.

"Thank you" I smiled taking it in one hand "Come on we're switching cars"

I had to admit I felt guilty doing this, stealing an extremely expensive car but I needed a ride and a fast one. There was no denying it was a for a good cause. Anastasia and Zarbien jumped out of the truck and we walked quickly over to the other car.

I was glad she had her key, this did not look like the kind of car you could jump start easily.

I jumped over the side of the car into the front seat since there was no roof and stuck the bronze key into the car watching it meld into the perfect shape. Now _this_ was a master key.

The car reared up as Anastasia and Zarbien climbed in. I looked at the speedometer and smiled, now we were talking. I started to back out feeling terrible and stealing this car but desperate times called for desperate measures.

I reversed out of the gas station mentally saying goodbye to my truck hoping I'd see it again in one piece and headed back onto the road.

Just as we left I saw the man come out of the shop and run after us pointing at us with hands covered in expensive rings. I heard his yells of 'stop!' and 'thief!'. I tried to ignore him, living with Anastasia I'd stolen things before but unlike Anastasia I always felt guilty especially if the people I stole from were innocent.

Technically I was only borrowing it but it was still next to certain he would never see it again. I just had to hope that by the way he looked he had at least five more cars.

I headed onto the main road and drove full pelt turning the speed up and up until many of the things around us became little more than a blur. Our hair started to blow backwards we went so fast the fairies falling behind us.

"Don't you think you're going a bit fast?" observed Anastasia, she didn't sound particularly nervous just observant

I didn't dare take my eyes of the road, I was really quite scared, I'd been on far faster magical objects but even this speed made me want to hurl. The only thing keeping me going was my desperation to get Anastasia cured.

After a short while as we reached a smooth straight road which was thankfully unoccupied by fellow drivers we hit a problem which made running out of gas and high jacking a car seem like absolutely nothing.

"We got company" said Anastasia looking behind us

"Police?" I asked knowing we were way over the speed limit. I so nervous I didn't even want to look in the wing mirror.

"No, Zarbien says vampires" she said in a slightly less calm voice.

It took a second for me to process these words and saw Zarbien jump into the backseat transforming into a giant lion and roared. I looked in then wingmirror and saw the blurry figures of vampires running after us, they did not look happy.

"Potion of loathing" said Anastasia suddenly

"What?" I said terrified

"I don't know but I think I made a potion of loathing a couple of weeks ago" she said to herself looking back at them

"Now is not the time" I cried giving the car all she had as we sped forwards. I inwardly knew we had no chance of outrunning the vampires. They had super speed, they weren't class two vampires for nothing.

"No I think I gave it to them" she said

"No" I shouted. Of all the potions.

There were five vampires in counting following us ready to drain us dry. Their intention seemed more than obvious, they were going to catch us, then kill us.


	57. The Chase

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer except Anastasia and Zarbien **

**Bpov**

My heart was pounding so fast I thought it would explode as we zoomed forward in the sports car waiting for the inevitable.

I looked in the mirror and saw Edward who must be the fastest make a jump for the car leaping higher than any human could in his attempt to get into the car, his face was wild and furious fangs fully extended. This is what I'd dreaded from the moment I saw him, he had looked angry at me in biology but this, _this_ was anger, this was wild magically driven hatred.

I turned the car sharply left making it swerve to the other side of the road just in time. Edward landed on the concrete but didn't take long to recover leaping up again now in line with his brothers and sisters.

In no time at all they were parallel to the car on both sides so I could see them just by turning my head, the darkness not enough to hide their blurry figures.

"Anastasia do something! Anything!" I cried

"I don't know how?" she shouted back

"_ANASTASIA!_" I screamed as the blonde one whose name I had forgotten in the fear leapt in the air to land dead on us with a huge thud breaking part of the car. Her were fangs outstretched and ready for action.

She held out her hands towards Anastasia and just before she grabbed her a shockwave burst out of Anastasia sending the vampire reeling backwards. At almost the exact same moment Zarbien slashed at another taller male vampire coming in at the other side.

Anastasia looked stunned and I realised she hadn't said or thought any spells, it was her magical instinct kicking in, the defensive system she'd been born with. I'd seen her do this before, but it was a one shot and wouldn't protect her from this situation for long.

The vampire which Zarbien had slashed looked out of the game, at least for now but the blonde one was back on her feet following the car from behind, no doubt even angrier than ever.

Two more vampires came at the car denting the edge hugely with just their fists, Zarbien managed to hold them both off as me and Anastasia ducked. But he couldn't hold them all off forever, they might not be able to hurt him majorly but eventually they'd get me and Anastasia, and without Anastasia Zarbien would whither and die.

I continued swerving from one side of the road to the other swinging them away from and off the car.

Jasper leapt and actually succeeded in jumping into the car in a successful position dodging as Zarbien took several swipes at him with his gigantic clawed paws. Zarbien took a leap at him hitting him square on and they both rolled off the back of the car.

The car zoomed away fast and I looked back.

"Zarbien!" I shouted hoping he would follow and fast.

One other vampire grabbed onto the back of the car slowing it down just by holding onto it and keeping her feet on the ground. She had spiky black hair and if she didn't bare an expression which looked filled with hate she would have looked quite beautiful. I recognised her as the one I had seen in Port Angeles.

I held down the peddle so the wheels screeched in full speed but by now she had stopped the car, we were going nowhere. Class Two vampire strength was clearly _very_ strong.

"I've seen what's going to happen with you and my brother" she hissed to me each word filled with venom "And I'm sure as hell going to change it"

She looked utterly insane, eyes wild and I half expected her to start foaming at the mouth. I had no idea what these words meant but they didn't sound good. I grabbed my locket and opened it letting the light beam hit the vampire girl full in the face. She blinked her eyes squinting away from the powerful beam but it didn't seem to have any further effect say of a slight shimmer of her skin. Great these vampires weren't affected by sunlight.

The other vampires were standing in front of my car staring at me.

"Oh my god" I said to thin air "Anastasia if you're going to do anything you'd better do it now"

Anastasia was just looking from one vampire to the other. Four of them had returned circling us, the blonde boy hadn't returned, hopefully he was not coming at all, hopefully Zarbien had killed him. In a situation like this, when I was this terrified I felt next to no remorse on that thought.

The vampires approached slowly, clearly hating us just enough to want to terrify us to death before they killed us. If that was their tactic it was definitely working, on me anyway.

Then as I looked at the small spiky haired one I saw a gigantic lion leap over her. Zarbien. He roared in her face and she took several steps back.

Her eyes went sort of glazed briefly and I wondered what strange effect Zarbien was having on her. When her eyes returned to normal they were full of fear and she turned tail and ran away from us at super speed.

"Alice?" shouted the tall dark curly haired one looking after her with a little confusion added to his list of hate ridden emotions.

Three left I thought was that too many for Zarbien? Yep.

"Any last words?" asked Edward ignoring his sister's departure

"Bella" Anastasia said for the first time sounding like her old self, her voice wasn't distant anymore "Get down"

I dropped like a rock hitting the floor as I heard a crack of stone and looked up to see the rock face we were near crumbling into huge boulders rickoshading down. I put my hands over my head. What was she doing? Trying to get us all killed? Getting rid of the vampires and taking us with them was her best plan?

I shut my eyes tight hearing what sounded like a full on avalanche fall above me. I heard the shouts of the vampires as they were pushed backwards under tons of rubble.

I stayed there listening to the silence, hands feeling melded to the concrete, was I dead? Dying hadn't hurt at all, well aside of my ears and the pain of dropping onto the concrete. I opened my eyes and saw Anastasia with one hand out holding a shield spell in place.

I jumped up covered in dust s the force field disappeared pushing off the rocks. We backed away from the rubble where the three vampires were buried.

"Are they...dead? Did the rocks...kill them" I panted

Anastasia shook her head "No, but it'll sure as hell slow them down"

I looked at her sideways "You remember yourself now?"

She looked at me and shook her head "That's what he said" she added pointing Zarbien.

I sighed disappointed, she didn't have her memory back and the vampires were still alive. Well at least she'd cast the spells, now we could hopefully getaway, to any magical outpost until Anastasia was cured.

"How long before they...?" I trailed off

"He says about twenty minutes maybe less"

"Let's go" I said still struggling to breathe

Then I realised the car had been crushed into scrap via the avalanche, that man definitely wasn't getting it back. Oh well Zarbien could carry us both from here, he would just have to be tired and I would just had to grit my teeth and take the sickening feeling of riding him at his ridiculous speed, he was probably much faster than the car anyway.

We started to head towards Zarbien to get on him when I saw a pale hand burst out of the rocky ground with a crunch. We all stopped dead as the ground shuddered and figure of Edward Cullen dragged himself out from a mountain of rubble, he had clearly only caught the very edge of the avalanche.

He sent rocks flying giving a howl of anger coated in dust and stones pulling himself to his feet once more. He stared at us loathing us.

"You're not going anywhere" he growled

Zarbien jumped in front of us and growled back much louder

"Don't attack him" I called and strangely found myself unsure whether I was talking to Edward or Zarbien.

"Huh" spat Edward eyes narrowing at Zarbien "I eat mountain lions for breakfast"

I had no doubt on that front.

Edward launched himself at Zarbien who met Edward in the air hitting him like a brick wall slamming him down on the floor beneath him. Edward thrashed at Zarbien trying to bite him and push him off, useless. Zarbien bit into his neck and shoulder and shook Edward like a rag doll from side to side.

A witch's familiar's teeth and claws could kill pretty much anything, this vampire would take these injuries as if he were a normal human.

"Zarbien stop it!" I cried running forward as Zarbien slashed at his face and Edward Cullen yelled in agony

I grab hold of Zarbien's mane pulling backwards

"Zarbien stop it, _stop it_!" I shouted

Zarbien let go of Cullen wrenching off a fair bit of Edward's chest as he let go. Edward fell limp on the floor unmoving shirt ripped looking damaged beyond repair the light in his eyes dying.

The question in Zarbien's eyes was obvious, 'why?'

I didn't know why but I just couldn't let Edward Cullen die. Something inside me I didn't understand simply refused.

But looking at it I was probably too late anyway, looking at Edward a mess on the floor I saw little hope. I could just stand there and watch him dying fast...

**My apologies for leaving on such a morbid ending, I'm in a bad mood cause a certain boy said that I would make a terrible author which is one of the things I thought I might like to be when I grow up. This anger may just have leaked out a little into my story. **

**I'll continue when I get at least 100 reviews. **


	58. Dead?

**Thank you for getting me over 100 reviews. I never thought my story would get so many. **

**I believe there was some confusion about the last chapter sorry, for any mistakes, here's my attempt to clear them up and solve any confusion: **

**One: I didn't know that Twilight vampires didn't have fangs, it's a pity that they don't I thought that was one of the things which make vampires them so dangerous and different, oh well you can either ignore the fang comments or you can assume in this story they do have fangs, I'll give you the choice. **

**Two: Anastasia went to knock out the other Cullen children after she knocked out Edward and Alice. She did this after she saw Scorpius release all those fairies in the school corridor. Re-read chapter 47 if you don't believe me. (She was also planning to get Carlisle and Esme later but she never got round to it, probably a good thing)**

**Three: A familiar's (Zarbien's) teeth and claws can cut through anything human made. It's magical, mythical and supernatural things he can't get through. Human made things like marble, Titanium and even Diamond next to useless (sorry). **

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Zarbien **

**Bpov **

I had seen numerous people die in my life time. When you see a person die right in front of you who you know as long as you get a look at them and are not in the act of running you get a rush of feeling. For me it's always a different feeling depending on who they are and how I know them, whether they're someone I hate, someone I like, a friend, an acquaintance I'd known for about two minutes, anybody. Still there are always some aspects that were always the same. But the feeling I got when I saw Edward lying there was unlike anything I'd ever felt watching people die, it was...indescribable, the closest I could possibly get to describing it was a little bit like that jolt you get when you go down a drop on a rollercoaster or fall of a four story balcony (long story) but yet that still describe it all, this was much much worse.

He was lying still as a broken statue, staining the dusty grey road black with blood. I was pretty sure had I not intervened Zarbien would have ripped him in two.

I spun round nearly falling over my own feet

"Anastasia, do something, anything he's _dying_!" I shouted voice rising several octaves

"So?" she said blankly

She looked as if she had returned to her trance like memory wiped state again, clearly the old Anastasia was slowly reawakening, taking her energy and she clearly had little interest in Edward. Why should she? Why did I?

I decided a different tactic in my desperation.

"You saw what you used to be like didn't you? You said you were mean?" I demanded trying to force my way into her attention span.

She nodded clearly unaware where I was going with this

"But you didn't like it? You don't want to be like that anymore do you?" I prompted

"No?" she said slowly sounding very confused

"Well if you don't want to end up like her you can start by helping Edward" I cried

Zarbien gave an angry roar at my words.

I walked right up to him and hissed in his ear "For God's sake just work with me on this"

Anastasia walked forward "What do you want me to do?" she asked

"Cast a spell on him" I exclaimed "Anastasia anything but _quickly!_"

She still looked at a loss and I let out a growl of frustration and literally yanked the healing talisman off her neck and slung it over his limp neck.

"Hey" she protested and Zarbien growled further as if debating whether to intervene

The healing talisman's light intensified as it detected quite how injured he actually was. I'd seen other people wearing healing talismans before and whenever they got that bright it never ended well for the wearer.

"He needs it more than you do" I said firmly

Before she could answer I heard a shudder and the ground shook, the blood drained from my face as I heard the other vampires making their ways to the top of the rubble. They were stronger than I thought breaking through the rubble as if it were nothing but tissue paper.

Strangely though my mind was still rotating around Edward dying by my feet not the vampires raring to kill me. Looking at him I'd give Edward ten minutes but not much longer with out immediate magical assistance. I didn't know if type-two vampires had automatic healing or not but by the looks of it if his kind did have it wasn't working against Zarbien's magic filed jaw rips.

I also heard a noise down the road and saw a vampire sort of limping towards us. The other vampire that Zarbien had crashed into clearly wasn't dead and was injured but determined to join the others.

The feeling of hopelessness filled me, I often got this feeling and absolutely hated it.

Ten seconds later the two other vampires were out of the ground covered in dust and were looking at Edward in shock. They were at his side so fast I'd have missed them if I'd blinked. The blonde one pushed me out the way with such strength I flew about ten feet in the air and landed on the side of the road with a crash.

"What did you do?" she demanded looking as is she were deciding whether to touch him or not

There was a pause and I sat up head aching like hell.

The one with dark curly hair jumped up quickly and turned to face me and Anastasia

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO OUR BROTHER?" he yelled

I didn't know what to say, I wanted Edward to live just as much as him and me and knew Anastasia was pretty much his only chance but how the hell was I expected to explain that to them.

The blonde one turned who was still kneeling on the floor turned to the curly haired one.

"Emmett" she said in a very perceptible voice "He's dead"

My heart contracted and I lost my breath as if someone had punched me in the stomach. Dead, he couldn't be dead, he just couldn't. He looked dead but surely, surely she was wrong...

I scrambled up onto two feet – both of which killed – and stared at him across the road. He looked dead but his looks weren't what drew my attention, the attention was the talisman around his neck. The talisman had stopped shining going a plain black. I knew it would only stop shining and healing him if he was completely cured or if he died.

He'd died. Oh my God he'd died...just like that. And it had been our fault, if I hadn't forced Anastasia into getting that potion...

The vampire called Emmett turned back looking stunned "No...how...?"

He turned to me and Anastasia eyes furious and blazing, his vampire sister or whoever the hell she was soon behind him. The other limping vampire had practically reached us too.

I didn't know if Zarbien could take down them all.

"You are going to pay for this" said the curly haired vampire said voice sounding choked as he advanced, then he yelled "YOU ARE GOING TO _PAY FOR THIS!_"

I shut my eyes tight clutching Anastasia's arm and strangely didn't feel as scared as I thought I would be an image of Edward floating into my head. He was dead soon we would be too, I'd always meant to ask Anastasia what happens when you die, well time to find out.

I heard a loud thud. Nothing happened. I waited, nothing. I opened one eye and saw the curly haired vampire lying spread eagled on the road face down, the blonde vampire half on top of him eyes closed unmoving.

I stood there rasping my breath, the limping vampire was out too. I looked from one to the other, what? What?

Then I spotted a small hooded figure at the edge of the road staring at the scene, all I could see of the face was an amused smile. The hood turned towards Anastasia and I and then spoke in a ancient voice.

"Oh dear oh dear we are in trouble"


	59. Prices

**Disclaimer: Any references to the original Twilight belong to Stephenie Meyer **

**Bpov**

"_I won't dally with this for much longer what's it going to be?" she said in a voice which suggested she was immensely enjoying this _

_I gritted my teeth looking from one to the other struggling to make this decision.._

_Earlier..._

"So how exactly did you know where to find us?" I asked looking around the wooden shack-like house she lived in. It was bigger on the inside than the outside and there was odd bits of equipment everywhere, still it looked a lot like a hut and I found myself wondering why she lived so primitive

"I had a vision" she said simply

"Oh" I said. This wasn't too unusual, Anastasia had had a few visions in her life but she wasn't the best seer in the world, all her visions had occurred when she was asleep and they were all a little fuzzy and inaccurate.

"Yes it was strange it was a very clear vision and I had nothing prepared or set to trigger it. And you know it didn't feel like my usual visions, it was almost as if someone sent me it" she said to herself

"Perhaps Anastasia's psyche sent it to you, calling for help" I suggested

She shook her head "Unlikely"

I let the subject drop not particularly bothered about that and looked at Anastasia who was sitting on a tree stump the same as me. She was looking at the two of us blankly even though we were talking about her.

"So" I said getting back to the main point "Can you get my sister a memory potion?"

She turned to me and smiled "I suppose so, but it'll cost you"

I nodded "We have some money but we can owe you as much as you want"

She sat down and picked up a wooden brush and started coming through her dark hair absentmindedly. I wondered if she was going to reply or not. Over the years I had learnt to was better not to rush the supernatural.

"How old are you?" asked Anastasia suddenly

I turned around, great she's asking stupid questions, I have _got_ to get her healed.

She looked at her and smirked "I am one hundred and fifty years old"

My eyes widened at this "Really?" I burst out. She looked about ten to me, sure she had the voice and the eyes of someone who had lived for centuries but...wow.

"No" she said flatly as if I were stupid "I'm twelve, humans honestly. I just have a low voice that's all"

You're telling me I thought. When she had showed up in the road and knocked out the three vampires there I had assumed I was talking to an old person in a cloak only to be introduced to a little girl who was apparently named Cara Har-something I couldn't pronounce.

"May I ask how she came to have her memory wiped in the first place?" she asked

I explained as much of the story as I knew from when she bought the potion to when she emerged from the portal and had no idea who I was.

"But you see that potion was intended for type two vampires, not witched and I think it had a much worse effect on her, taking her mind _completely_" I finished

Cara nodded "Clearly"

"We were on our way to see her old friend Nala when they caught up with us" I said indicating the unconscious vampires on the floor "Oh um by the way what are you intending to do when they wake up?"

Cara didn't even spare them a glance "Knock them unconscious again"

"You can take the loathing potion off them right" I said

"Well if you say they took it at about noon it should wear off in less than twenty four hours by now, I did a quick scan and that was a very basic loathing potion, main ingredient just simply type-sixteen fairy dust and you know how weak that stuff is"

I personally had no idea how weak that stuff is but went along with it.

"There was also another vampire that was with them that ran away, I don't know why but she just ran and she still has that potion on her" I said remembering the way she had grabbed onto the back of the car stopping it when it was going full speed.

"Once your sister has her mind back she will be able to sort out one vampire" Cara said simply

"You mean kill her?" I said voice going squeaky

Cara nodded "Or I suppose you could buy another mind-wipe potion from me"

"Alright" I said seeing the price of this trip rising uncomfortably.

Cara didn't seem at all perturbed and carried on to say "The memory potion your half-sister has on may take a little more work which is why I shall demand a price" she said

I nodded "You'll want to consult Anastasia's familiar about all magical financial stuff I'm not exactly an expert on that front"

Cara nodded and I started to look around the shack in more detail, the wall were constructed from dark wooden planks which looked like moths had been at them. There were several cracks too and I could see the sky outside, soon it would be dawn.

I wondered what would happen when these vampires felt the sun, obviously they wouldn't melt because Anastasia had seen them during the day and that one with the dark hair had felt my locket of light on her face and done nothing but wince. Speaking of magical jewellery I looked at Anastasia and saw the healing talisman around her neck, I had taken it back from Edward, it wasn't exactly as if he needed it anymore.

I wished they hadn't brought him here, I could hardly bear to look at him, she'd cast a spell to stop him bleeding on her floor – which I personally thought was filthy enough already – and just laid him with the other unconscious Cullens. Still she couldn't just leave him in the road though. The other Cullens had their eyes closed and looked almost peaceful, Edward's eyes were still half open staring blindly forward any light in them gone. To be respectful I knew I should close them but I simply couldn't bring myself to touch him, not now he's dead.

"I don't really do owing" Cara said to Anastasia who was busy translating for Zarbien

I flicked my attention back, we clearly didn't have enough money.

"We need that potion, she needs to get better" I said

She shrugged "It's not my problem"

"Well, is anything you'd want to trade?" I said uselessly

She raised an eyebrow and looked at us, I doubted we had anything she wanted

"How about all the money you possess along with that healing talisman, that anti-pregnancy talisman and that locket of yours"

Zarbien growled, I may not know too much about magical currency but knew that had to be a rip off.

"Well alright" I said in the end. What other choice did we have?

I pulled off my locket and Anastasia took off her two talismans scooping up all the money out of her pocket. Suddenly my gratitude for the girl at our rescue had plummeted.

"And of course I get to keep the dead vampire" she said

I looked over at Edward "Why would you want a dead vampire?"

"Type-two vampire venom is fairly useful in some spells, when type two's die they're usually burned to pieces so you can't get it then. If I had him as he is now I could drain him and make a small profit" she said as if this were all regular business

I felt all my own blood drain from my face as I imagined a dried up Edward, nasty. I shuddered feeling sick and forced my thoughts away from that picture.

I wondered what would happen once Anastasia was back, would she kill the unconscious Cullens? It seemed a definite possibility, that way she could give their blood to this witch and not have to pay so much. Still I didn't exactly know how I could get round this.

A potion levitated across the room into Anastasia hands. She held it up and looked at it. It didn't look like the kind of potion you'd take for pleasure.

"Where's your familiar?" she asked absentmindedly

"My familiar? Oh I don't have one" she said simply

I frowned "I thought you were a witch?"

She shook her head giving me a look which suggested I was being stupid "You think a twelve year old witch could do the things I've done? No, no, no, I'm a necromancer"


	60. Necromancy

**Hi, sorry it's been a while but I have been drowning in sociology homework and other A level stuff and lifesaving training and preparation for a karate grading. I had to put FanFiction on a hold. **

**Disclaimer: Any references to the original twilight belong to Stephenie Meyer **

I stared at her "A necromancer?"

She nodded "It's like a very powerful witch who possesses special powers involving the dead"

"I know what a necromancer is" I said nodding, they weren't exactly hard to figure out. "So...so you can bring back the dead?"

"Technically yes, but I'm a young necromancer and haven't ever been able to bring someone one hundred percent back to life yet, that's really advanced, I'm better at merely communicating with the dead"

"Bring back Edward" I blurted out before I could stop myself

"Who?" she said looking a little surprised at my outburst

I regained myself feeling like an idiot and pointed at Edward

She snorted "Why would you want him alive again, wasn't he trying to kill _you_?"

I nodded "But he was under the influence of a mixed up spell, none of this is his fault please help him"

"Look necromancy isn't cheap, not like a potion or charm, you need real money and by that I mean a _lot_ of money" she said actually widening her eyes for emphasis as if I couldn't imagine

"You can everything good we have" I said instantly

She smiled "I've already got that and I doubt your half sister has the right amount of money at her disposal anywhere"

"But I _need_ him alive" I said

Zarbien made a noise from Anastasia's side, clearly he was confused.

"He wants to know why you _need_ him alive" Anastasia said as I looked over

"Because..." I said

The three of them waited

"Just because okay. I just need him alive I just do" I said crossly

Anastasia's eyes narrowed as she looked at Zarbien.

"He says no" Anastasia said flatly

"No?"

"Yep"

I gritted my teeth "Well tough I'm in charge now"

All three of them looked at me as if I were stupid

"You're in charge?" said Cara giving me a look as if I were about three

"Yes" I said standing "You're memory wiped, you're a cat and you're _all_ younger than me" I said firmly

Anastasia looked as if she were trying not to laugh.

"But you're a human" said Cara "That basically puts you at the bottom of the magical hierarchy, sorry"

"I will have you know that humans are just as important in these kinds of decisions as the rest of you, alright?" I said stubbornly

Cara raised an eyebrow at me giving me a look, I tried to ignore it struggling to hold onto my dignity but that stare was so disturbing...and in the end broke remarkably quickly, I suppose that was me all over.

"Fine fine your right whatever the hell you want to be right is right just please please help him" I begged as I wished I had more of a backbone.

"You still haven't answered the question, why?" said Anastasia unhelpfully

I didn't reply, I wouldn't know what to say even if I wanted to, I'd been asking myself the similar question for weeks and still had no answer.

Cara suddenly took a step forward right in front of me reaching up and brushing her hand across my cheek shutting her eyes at the touch and breathing in sharply. I jumped backwards in alarm at the freezing touch of her hand as if she were dead herself, it was so cold it literally burned.

Zarbien took a couple of steps forward as I stumbled back clutching my cheek in pain.

I stared at Cara who opened her eyes a smirk crossing her face.

"Well now I know" she said in that low deathly voice of hers which gave me the creeps

"Know what?" I demanded. If she was talking about how to put off a customer then she definitely knew.

"Why you want Edward back" she replied giving me a look a predator gives its prey

"Why?" I said cautiously back brushing up against the wall

"You want the vampire back – Edward - because..." she said pausing there almost for effect or torment

"Spit it out" said Anastasia from the corner – she'd never had much patience.

Cara didn't even turn to her still intent on addressing me

"Because you've fallen in love with him"

There was a pause where all three of us stared at her speechless as if she'd just started at her tap-dancing.

Anastasia was the first to speak "What?" she said

"I have not" I protested disgustedly

"Oh yes you have" Cara smiled "I can sense it"

"You have no idea what you're talking about" I said shifting away from the wall as an electric wire had just jolted me "I could never fall in love with a...vampire"

"You'd be surprised how many people fall in love with creatures they detest" she replied simply

"But a vampire. A bloodsucking monster. You're talking crazy, you're lying, stop it"

"You've fallen in love" she shrugged

"I said STOP IT!" I shouted

Anastasia was exchanging a look with Zarbien which made me want to ring her neck. Why was everyone against me? How could they believe this tale, she was obviously lying, she had to be.

"You take that back" I demanded "Take it back!"

She shrugged "I'm merely relaying what I saw there's no reason to make such a performance out of it"

I knew I was queen of all overreactions but this was out of the question. Me, and a vampire, well that just didn't sound right at all. She had to be lying, but then why was I getting this feeling, looking back this would explain all my strange behaviour, it would – no stop it! Stop thinking like that right now!

I shot a pleading look towards Anastasia who raised an eyebrow at me, I knew if she had her proper memory back she would be really rubbing this in my face. I was almost grateful she hadn't drunk the potion still in her hand.

"You know what just, just forget Edward okay we just want to leave with our potions alright so thank you for helping us" I said turning away face burning heading for the door.

I pulled on it and it wouldn't open, it didn't have a lock so this was clearly magic. Still I was too upset to care and started pulling on it as hard as I could like a mindless idiot.

"Bella-" started Anastasia

"SHUT UP SHUT UP AND OPEN THIS BLASTED DOOR!" I yelled hand aching as I wrenched against the wood as hard as body could (which wasn't very hard)

"Fine" said Cara "At least let your sister take her potion while I'm here to observe it works"

I took a deep breath and let go of the door nodding. I looked over to Anastasia who uncorked the potion bottle and looked with distaste at it contents. She hesitated

"When I saw myself I wasn't...very nice, can't I just remember everything but keep this mind?" she asked

Cara shook her head slowly and Zarbien growled clearly angry at this proposition

Anastasia looked at me and I bit my lip "I need you back the way you were"

"But you always wanted me to be better, you were in those memories too, I know you wanted me different" she argued

"If you hadn't been like that I'd be dead now" I said flatly

"But I don't want to be like that"

"You have to" I said firmly

"But-"

"I sorry but right now I don't need niceness I need my sister" I said with more savagery than intended

Anastasia paused then scowled

"Half sister" she said coldly then threw back her head and drowned the potion in one

She winced at the taste then just stared at me vacantly for a second then fell backwards unconscious. I winced as her head smacked on the ground and ran to her side and nearly got crushed by Zarbien as he fell onto his side sending a full on tremor through the wooden shack.

I turned to Cara "What did you do?" I demanded

"Side-effect" she shrugged

"Have you poisoned my sister?"

"No" she said as if it were a question she answered everyday

I wasn't sure but honestly wasn't in a position to fight over it. I just pulled my sisters face up checking to see if her head was bleeding but she seemed alright.

"Why is Zarbien unconscious?" I queried

"Because of their psychic bond" Cara answered simply

"He didn't get mind wiped when she did" I pointed out

"That was a cheap homemade potion, it would have worn off eventually if you'd let it, it only got to a tiny fraction of her mind, mine went straight through her circuits, hit their bond too"

I couldn't think of anything to say to this so just stroked Anastasia's hair out of her face moving her into a better position on her back.

"Now about the vampire boy" Cara said

"I don't want to talk about him" I said voice clogged

"There is perhaps something you could give me that I might exchange for his life" she said delicately suddenly finding interest in her fingernails

I turned slowly to her "What?" I asked warily

"Make me a promise" she said

"A promise to what?"

"Promise that if I ever see you again you will do one task I set you" she said

I raised an eyebrow. That didn't sound very safe. Then I looked at Edward, dead Edward, dead Edward who was dead because of me...

"What will you ask of me?" I asked even though I already knew she wasn't going to tell me

"That is me to know" she said proving me right

I looked at Anastasia, she usually knew the answers to various bargains with different creatures but she was totally out for the count and I got the feeling Cara wasn't going to await my answer until she woke

Agreeing to this was against all my morals, all the guidelines and safety restrictions I had made myself over the years. I was the cautious one in the family, I always had been and my morals were yelling no to the offer in my head. But my heart was saying yes.

"Anytime today" said Cara

"Fine" I said cursing myself as soon as the words were out my mouth but not taking them back. Unfortunately my heart often ruled my head.

A sinister smile crept along her face which blood run cold. I should really say no to this proposition now...now...my mouth seemed to be a mute.

"Have you done this a lot" I said as she levitated Edward's corpse up. He looked like a zombie when she did that.

"No. I have never actually succeeded in bringing someone entirely back to life, still since he's only a vampire I think I should be able to do it" she said

I gave her a look

"I'm just a kid" she shrugged with a voice that sounded like it belonged to a ninety year old "You're paying for my best attempt"

I wasn't confident in this. It seemed too full of holes.

"It's not a pleasant thing for humans" she said to me

I gave a small smile "Whatever it is I can assure you I've been through worse"

Cara nodded then stood before the table where Edward lay stone dead. I stood there anticipation burning whilst my heart pounded like a jackhammer.

She reached into a draw which came from the table and pulled out a _heart_. She smacked it on the table next to Edward and I put my hands over my mouth a huge wave of nausea washed over me. The thing still had blood on it for crying out loud, I prayed it wasn't a human heart. I looked away knowing if I saw whatever she was going to do with it I would hurl. I just shut my eyes tight and heard a horrible squelching noise, I tried to play a tune in my head to block it out but didn't have great success.

I stayed like that for a while but once it had gone silent I eventually opened my eyes a fraction and saw the heart was gone, where I didn't know and honestly didn't want to know.

Cara shut her eyes. If I thought the room was cold before it sure as hell was now. I felt as if I was naked in the arctic and grasped my elbows unable to contain a shiver, skin crawling.

I blinked and looked through the cracks in the walls, it looked dark, sky a deathly shade of black but no stars. But wait it had been coming up morning, hadn't it?

Any candles in the room blew out and we were plunged into darkness with only the faintest light of the moon shining through the cracks.

Cara began to whisper words in a quiet hissing voice, they were in a language I didn't know. Although the words were quiet and I couldn't understand them I could feel them inside me whispering inside my head and around the room like ghosts.

Maybe this was a bad idea.

Then wisps of smoke appeared around my ankles, or maybe it was mist, whatever it was it was white and was smothering the room until I could no longer see my shoes. I took a step back but the smoke didn't even stir. I looked towards Anastasia whose body I could barely see as the smoke covered her unconscious body.

I thought about going over there, pulling her face out but as I looked back I saw Cara open her eyes and found myself rooted to the spot. Her eyes no longer had any iris or pupil they were just white, an eerie misty white like the substance on the floor.

From the white mist clawed hands arose, misty white deathly hands reaching up to grab Edward scraping his chalk white skin.

Then the screaming started, it wasn't Edward or Cara or even me, it came from nowhere but it was so loud and so desperate. My mouth fell open and I clapped my hands to my ears as the scream and cried rang in my ears, a thousand cries of a thousand sorrows. The voices didn't cease and just got louder inside my mind, they were desperate they were in agony and I couldn't help them, I fell to my knees and cried out myself as I heard and felt their terror and confusion. I didn't know these voices but they were becoming part of me, their despair and horror, they were killing me. I wanted the end of this torment I wanted to die as they did and soon I heard my own screams and Anastasia's scream every scream I had ever heard along with all those I had never met. I tasted blood in my mouth and blood coming from my nose, blood even falling like tears from my eyes as I wept for those lost souls. I was dying, it was killing me, the sound was killing me, driving me over the edge to hell itself.

Finally I heard one scream louder and clearer than all the others, it was Edward's and I opened my eyes to see the ghostly hands retreating from the table and then the rest of the mist seeping away. I couldn't move, couldn't see Edwards face from on the floor but I saw a his left hand twitch in movement.

I gave a gasp remembering how to breathe. I couldn't believe it Edward was alive, he was alive...


	61. Perfect Moment

**This chapter is very short but I still hope you like it **

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to me – except Anastasia and Zarbien **

**Bpov**

I wouldn't be too surprised if I fainted. I often fainted in situations like this, but this time I didn't. I just stared at his hand hanging off the table as I saw it move praying to all the gods I wasn't imagining it.

Then slowly stood to regain my footing moving like Bambi when he first stumbled into the world.

As I rose I looked at Edward lying on the table pale as a ghost and saw his eyes flutter. My breath caught in my throat and I felt tears in my eyes as his head slowly turned to me eyes still struggling to fully open. They focused on me and his mouth opened as if trying to speak but no words came out.

I found myself unconsciously moving towards him our eyes locked, as for my mind well it felt like it were in a whole other universe.

His hand lifted up shakily and reached out brushing against my own almost as if asking for help.

Without thinking I wrapped my fingers fully around it gripping it. I don't know why I did it, it was absolutely freezing but in that moment it just felt so right. Just for us to be touching one another.

A tear rolled down my cheek and fell onto our entwined hands. In that moment I knew that everything predicted of me was right, I was hopelessly in love with a vampire and there was nothing I could do about it.

Slowly his mouth formed into a small smile. I returned it still unable to say a word. There was nothing needed to be said we both knew what each other was thinking. Edward seemed to be trying to sit up onto one elbow, I tried to save him the trouble and leant down till our faces were near inches away...this was the single most perfect moment of my life.

"Holy crap my head" moaned a female voice from the corner.

I shut my eyes as one word came unwelcomingly to mind. Anastasia. She always knew how to ruin any romantic moment that wasn't her own.

I stood back as Edward and I broke hands, I turned and saw Anastasia sitting up clutching her head with a greatly pained expression. Her raven black hair was ruffled, her face even paler than usual with a slight hint of green from clear sickness of the potion. I heard a roar as Zarbien stretched up onto all four paws claws fully extended scratching the wooden floor.

I sighed feeling greatly deprived "You alright?" I asked voice drained of emotion

"What-what happened?" asked Anastasia sounding disorientated looking from me and Edward to the other unconscious Cullens. "Where's Cara?"

It was only then that I saw Cara was gone, I hadn't even noticed her departure, it was as if she had just vanished into thin air. I looked around the shack which considering its size didn't take very long and knew inside that although I wasn't going to find Cara here now I would see her again, someday.


	62. One Hell of a Headache

**Disclaimer: Any references to the original twilight belong to Stephenie Meyer (this is what a real disclaimer looks like I think my last one went a little wrong) **

**Apov**

My head felt like it was going to explode. It was throbbing like hell. Instinctively I gripped my healing talisman tightly as I willed the pain to subside.

My memories had flooded back very fast whilst I was out of it. In almost a single moment I had gained a world of magic and intelligence and also a great deal of offence in the direction of Bella. I was not _evil!_ That was just plain spiteful calling me that, I know I'm not the nicest person in the world but Jesus. My _father_ was evil but I wasn't, I thought Bella knew that...

I could remember almost everything of my past, at least I thought I did, as far as I knew there just appeared to be one thing missing, one empty space. When I was recently with Scorpius – something I didn't really want to think back to – after a lot of things I regret everything just went suddenly black as if I'd been knocked unconscious which made no sense at all. Obviously my memory was missing of that event, why else would it have all gone black? I had the feeling it hadn't been the necromancer who did this, even before I had the misfortune to be subject to a memory potion I hadn't fully remembered what happened. The only culprit I could put it to was Scorpius but why would he...

I got to my feet feeling fowl, I had heard from people (mainly Bella) that when I got headaches I got nasty. Well hell I had a headache now, one hell of a headache.

I cringed then looked and saw Bella standing next to the dead vampire boy who was now on a table then gave a jolt of surprise as he sat up. What the...?

"Bella what did you do?" I asked dreading her answer. Zarbien and I were both thinking the same thing.

She turned towards me her face tearstained "I asked for Edward to be brought back to life, after all it was our fault he died"

I raised an eyebrow. I would call it more self defence since he had been trying kill us. Still he probably wouldn't have gone nuts in the first place if it weren't for that potion mix up.

"What did you give her in exchange?" I demanded

She bit her lip "I just...I just made her a promise...to do whatever she wanted to if we meet again"

"_WHAT!_" I yelled. Zarbien did the same except of course Bella just heard the furious roar which could deafen. Bella practically staggered backwards at the impact "That was what she asked for, I had to say yes" she said pleadingly

"No, you could have said no" I said furiously

God how stupid...arghhhhhhhh my insides racked with anger and dread

"It's just a promise, what's the worst she could ask for?" Bella said innocently

"Err what about your life?" I suggested "Or mine?"

"I wouldn't give her anything like that" Bella said shaking her head

"You wouldn't have any choice, she was a necromancer, you have to it or you'll die anyway and so will he for the matter" I said in the direction of the vampire boy voice edged with acid. "She could even control your body"

An image of Bella being controlled like puppet by some puppeteer other than myself filled my head and I felt cold, even more than usual. I couldn't let that happen to Bella, but what could I do about it now...

"Why would she want to kill me anyway?" asked Bella

Oh my God, what am I talking to a wall?

"She's a necromancer, she has to kill people to bring back the dead, the balance of the universe has to be restored. By asking him to be brought back to life she'll have taken the life of whoever the last person who made a promise to her was" I said stating the obvious

Bella paled and I glowered at her.

"Why-why would she need a promise for that...I mean couldn't she just kill me anyway?" Bella asked

"Of course she could but necromancy is more effective if the given up their life willingly" I explained

"I wouldn't give up my life willingly" she cried "No way would I agree to that"

"You already did, you promised without coercion that's pretty much the same at least to them."

"So...so she's gonna kill me?" asked Bella with an expression as if she might faint

"Or someone you're close to, like _me_" I hissed

"I didn't know, I didn't think-" she started

"Of course you didn't you never think-" I started

"I think a hell of a lot more than you! Your always getting yourself into magical trouble!" she yelled back flushing red "I try and stay away from magic it's you who always drag me into it! I wouldn't even be here if it weren't for you!"

"You honestly think you'd be alive if it weren't for me" I said putting my hands on my hips at her ridiculous notion

"Every danger you've put me in has been magic related" she said

This wasn't strictly true I could think of several times she'd been in dangerous situations without my help "What about when you were nearly crushed by that car just a month ago, do you think you could have dodged that?" I challenged. I could hardly be blamed for that.

"Well we wouldn't have had to move to Forks in the first place if your magic hadn't attracted that poltergeist and if you hadn't kept trying to kill Phil" she retaliated

"I was testing him, not trying to kill him, and I still stand by the fact that there is no way in hell he is good enough for her. Bella trust me you would have died a long time ago if I never existed, deal with it"

Bella didn't say anything. I shut my eyes in frustration. It was called tough love, I generally found it the best way to get through to my sister. Well this explained that necromancer's hospitality. She must have known instantly that Bella was a human, a human who had a huge conscience and very limited self confidence. Blast that loathing potion, Bella's voice rang in my head telling me not to make potions in the living room. I tried to ignored it.

_Let's go_ said Zarbien imploringly

I nodded there was nothing to do now but get home

"Bella let's go. Like now" I said. Maybe I could find someway to fix Bella. I'd need someone powerful, perhaps I could persuade my father _if_ he could do it. Zeke's family could probably give enough money for the necromancer to change her mind but I couldn't see Zeke persuading his family to spend for a human, they'd never agree. Oh well I'd figure something I wasn't going to let a necromancer kill my sister.

Bella started to pull up the vampire to his feet and I rolled my eyes.

"We have to wait for Edward's family to wake up first. We can't just leave them" Bella said

"They'll be able to find their own way back" I said simply "Probably safer to let them regather their thoughts on their own"

Bella looked at them then nodded heading towards the door with that vampire leaning on her shoulder. Great, he was going to slow us down.

"Leave him too" I said

"What, no" she said stubbornly

"Zarbien is taking us back and he can't run his fastest carrying more than two people" I said

_Yet _said Zarbien

I smiled despite myself, Zarbien was going to double in size once we got to Darkhalls.

_You'd better believe it_ he said smugly

"Look how weak he is" Bella protested

"He's a type two vampire, he'll be fine. Give it an hour the magic will have worn off. He'll want to be with his family. Leave him Bella, don't make me force you" I said folding my arms

Bella looked from me to Edward then to me again. She sighed then let go of Edward letting him fall back onto the table. She started to explain in great detail to him why exactly she was leaving him. What a drama queen. Edward himself still looked a bit out of it.

Zarbien headed outside.

Bella turned to me and glared.

"He'll be able to find his own way back" I repeated not the least bit intimidated "We aren't far from Forks"

_I wouldn't count on that_ came Zarbien's voice from outside

I walked out the door of the wooden shack into the sunlight feeling it on my skin as my vision cleared. I froze as I looked around the unfamiliar surroundings.

Oh no.


	63. Problematic

**Disclaimer: Any references to the original Twilight belong to Stephenie Meyer**

**Bpov**

I walked out after Edward feeling very guilty leaving him on his own. I considered letting Anastasia and Zarbien leave then just go home with the Cullens however there was the small possibility that when they woke up the others may still have a twinge of that loathing potion on them and if that was the case I would be screwed. It wasn't worth the risk.

My mind was on that moment, wow that had been weird I had never felt anything like that before. One word sprung to mind but it was rather hard to absorb, this would take some delicate care. I would have to tell Anastasia about this, if I didn't she would find out herself, I couldn't keep secrets from her. As far as I could tell she hadn't recalled what that necromancer said about me and Edward. Perhaps she realised how Anastasia would react. I almost wanted to thank her for that but Anastasia had freaked me out about her now.

I headed for the door with one last look at Edward who stared after me looking both dazed and confused. I knew despite what Anastasia said that if I could go back and do it again I would still make that stupid promise.

"You'll see me soon" I assured him then headed out the door.

I walked out and felt a wave of heat hit my face as if I'd just walked into a sauna. I looked down and saw soft green grass under me and saw trees all around me, blanketed with vines which bore startling flowers the size of saucepans with amazing colours. Still that wasn't what grabbed my attention, what grabbed my attention was the sky. It was orange, real proper orange like an amazing sunset but it wasn't sunset, I could see the sun, or I suppose I should plural that sun_s. _There were three suns all burning brightly in the sky, one orange-yellow, one burnt red and one a shining shade of purple.

Something told me we weren't in Forks anymore.

"Anastasia..." I said voice rising several octaves

"This could prove problematic" she said out loud

"Problematic?" I squealed "Where are we! Where on earth are we?"

"Well we're not in Forks" she said

"I can see that where are we?"

She paused turning around taking the full glade into account then frowned thinking "I don't know"

My eyes widened "You don't know, how can you not _know_?"

"We're not in Forks, nor in America, we are in some kind of enchanted forest that is the extent of my knowledge" she said folding her arms

She didn't seem especially worried, I was borderline panicking. Where were we? what were we going to do? How the hell were we going to get home?

"Anastasia..._Anastasia DO SOMETHING!_" I screamed

She didn't even reply just continued looking around. She crouched down and plucked some grass from the ground. The grass was green but it had red roots which was weird. Still my mind wasn't on the grass. I turned round and almost screamed full on when I saw that the cabin had gone.

It had quite literally disappeared as if it had never been there. My heart contracted as an image of Edward shot through my mind, Edward gone wherever that cabin had gone, never seeing him again. The thought was too horrible to bear.

I nearly fainted when I saw him in front of some bushes sitting up looking around. I vaguely took into account the rest of his family lying unconscious in a heap. They seemed fairly unimportant at the present.

I ran to him and crouched down and put my arm around his shoulders as he blinked looking to me. I wrapped my fingers around his squeezing them trying to reassure him. A human reassuring a vampire, now that didn't sound right at all.

"Anastasia what are we going to do?" I called

She didn't reply

This made me angry "Come on! Do you propose we just stay here to die?"

"Yes" Anastasia said thoughtfully

"WHAT!" I said both horrified taken aback

She glanced in my direction as if first noticing I was there.

"I wasn't talking to you" she said.

I sighed, she was clearly in deep discussion with Zarbien. I suppose that was a good thing. In figuring out where we were Zarbien would be of much more use to her than me.

Anastasia's eyes dropped to mine and Edward's entwined fingers and both her eyebrows rose. I let go instinctively jumping up and away from Edward. Damn too late, Anastasia folded her arms looking at me then Edward.

I tried not to react but knew it was useless Anastasia could read me like a book. She didn't look all too pleased.

She turned sideways to Zarbien then nodded "I suppose not" she said

I wondered what she didn't suppose but didn't ask as she turned away.

Edward started to stumble to his feet. I didn't help him up, I still had some hope Anastasia didn't know what was going on between us. Hell even I wasn't even one hundred percent sure what was going on between us.

Suddenly Zarbien growled and Anastasia gave a jerk and a look of alarm.

"What?" I said scared

"Something's coming" Anastasia said dark eyes flickering around the glade

"I can't hear anything" I said shakily

"_Shh_" said Anastasia pressing a finger to her lips "I can sense it"

I looked towards Edward who was still struggling to stand on his own two feet and the two other Cullens lying unconscious. They definitely weren't in fighting condition.

Then there was the sound of a very slight rustling as about thirty figures in a perfect circle around us each holding a bow and arrow. They were all told with long red hair and alarmingly pointy ears. They looked deadly serious as their arrows aimed at us.

I could hardly breathe as the arrows poised ready for release at my head. My hands were shaking badly as I looked over to Anastasia who sighed and then reluctantly raised both her arms in a surrendering motion.


	64. Trespassing

**Disclaimer: Any references to the original Twilight belong to Stephenie Meyer**

**This is a longer chapter to make up for that earlier one which was rather short. **

**Apov**

I held my arms up in surrender knowing there was no way in high hell I could fight of twenty-seven elves (I may not be good at complicated human maths but I had an instinct for identifying supernaturals in all numbers).

I didn't look at Bella, I imagined she was trembling with fear else helping the Cullen boy instead I looked at the elves waiting for them to show their units leader, over half the types of elves always travel with a temporary leader, he or she would decide our fate.

One elf stepped forward, it was a man, tall with tanned skin and long hair as burnt orange as the sky. He was the only elf not aiming a bow, his was still on his back instead he held a curved sword engraved with runes. He was dressed in a cloak which changed colour as he walked from green to brown to dark red and back again. He was dressed more ornately than the others, I could see several jewels upon him. He was looking at me eyes as cold as steel.

"_State_ _your species and purpose_" he commanded. It took me a moment to absorb his words, mainly because he wasn't speaking English he was speaking Ancient North Elvish.

**Author's Note****: Any speech by elves or Anastasia written in italics will be in Ancient North Elvish a language Bella and the Cullens cannot understand. **

"_One_ _witch and familiar one human three type two vampires_" I said clearly "_We were teleported here and do not know where we are_"

God I sounded like an idiot, I hate sounding like an idiot.

"_Are you alone_?" he asked "_Don't even think about lying_"

I wouldn't think about lying even if I wanted to. A good fifth of all elves could sense when another being is lying to them, purely by instinct. I was pretty sure that fifth included these.

"_We are alone_" I confirmed

He turned to his people and said something. In a blink of an eye they were upon us but not to kill us, to capture us, if they wanted to kill us we would be full of arrows.

I heard Bella scream behind me.

"Bella don't fight" I called "They're just capturing us" I called as my hands were pulled roughly behind my back, tied securely by some kind of vine.

"Just?" she exclaimed

I was about to respond in an attempt to get her to shut up lest she make things worse but then a purple plant like thing was held under my nose I saw it open like a gaping mouth and lilac pollen burst out of it into my face, then I felt my world fading slightly

_See you on the other side_ I said to Zarbien before my world disappeared into a blur of purple.

**Bpov**

The creatures – which I wanted to call elves because of their pointed ears – came forward so fast I would have missed them had I blinked. They had been communing with Anastasia in some weird language which for some odd reason had a tint of a Scottish accent, although we obviously weren't in Scotland. They grabbed my arms and I saw them do the same to Edward. He didn't put up any resistance still clearly too weak and to my surprise neither did Anastasia. Did she want to be caught and killed?

I struggled against the ropes trying to pull away from them despite their superior strength. I didn't know what I was planning but I didn't trust supernaturals and writhed as they bound ropes or vines or whatever around my hands. Well I did until one punched my in the stomach so hard I was sure they had broken one of my ribs.

I doubled over in pain seeing double then with a thump the fist swung upwards again and hit me clean in the face, then everything went black.

**Apov **

When I awoke I blinked as Zarbien's head pulled back from nuzzling my head to consciousness. I sat up after seeing Zarbien was alright and saw I was in a cell. An elf cell, I recognised it because of the runes going on around it and of course because it had been elves that dragged me here. It looked like a dungeon except fancier, still there were bars which made it a dungeon to me.

I expected a headache from whatever that plant had knocked me out but instead felt almost...relaxed, peaceful. Clearly in had been a nice drug.

_Stop thinking about the plant look at Bella!_ Zarbien said crossly

I spun round and saw Bella lying on the ground unconscious but unlike me with a blood splattered face.

"Bella" I cried dropping to my knees and tilting her head, yes there was a pulse she was just unconscious. I let out a sign of relief. Those elves had really hit her hard, it looked like her nose was broken. Well I had told her not to retaliate but she didn't listen. 

My hand instinctively went to where I kept my healing talisman but I felt nothing but my own neck, I looked down and then sighed remembering I had given it to that necromancer, typical.

I leant over Bella and raised a hand "_Mortelo Travisious_" I said and pictured her fit and well. I felt the power flow through my arm but then it burn and repelled back through me making me choke falling backwards.

"_Don't bother_" said a female voice "_You're in an elven containment cage, did you honestly think we would let you use magic?_"

I turned gagging slightly and saw a girl maybe two or three years older than myself walking towards me. Obviously an elf, orange hair pointy ears etcetera etcetera. She was very pretty, although to be fair most elves were. She bore an expression which suggested she was talking to a child.

I felt like a child, I felt angry. I felt magic bubbling up inside me, if my magic wasn't contained something would have broken by now. I tried to calm myself purely because the magic rush in my body unable to escape was making me feel very sick.

I turned to Zarbien but knew better to touch him, that would just send a further rush of power through me and that might blow my circuits.

I switched my mind and language to Ancient North Elvish and addressed the girl

"_Would you mind telling me where we are?_" I asked in my politest voice

"_Classified_" she smiled almost tauntingly

"_How about what continent we're on_" I asked trying to cover my annoyance

"_You really don't know where you are do you?_" she asked looking amused

I shook my head and her orange eyebrows rose. She must have sensed I was telling the truth.

"_Well I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell you that the continent you are on is Sorolamous_" she said pleasantly

Sorolamous I thought. We were a long way from home. Humans weren't even allowed on this continent. I looked towards Bella, she was trespassing on illegal soil and I was guilty of bringing her here. We were in serious trouble.

I stood in front of Bella instinctively as if to protect her.

_Let me_ snarled Zarbien looking just as angry

I moved aside as Zarbien stood in front of Bella jaws bent into a snarl at the elf girl. I turned Bella onto her side. I knew enough of humans to know that their bodies were so stupid that they could even swallow their own tongues if lay on their backs too long.

I only then took into account that the three vampires were lying on the floor at the other side of the cell. They didn't looked harmed, I guess they hadn't put up a fight.

The elf girl became preoccupied with a book she was holding and ignored us completely. We stayed there for what felt like a couple of hours in silence then the Cullen boy who had previously been dead sat up looking around.

"Wha-where am I?" he asked

I considered telling him but knew he wasn't going to understand so just settled with "You don't wanna know"

His eyes flew to Bella then he made to get up but Zarbien jumped in front of him giving a roar. The vampire boy backed up looking at Zarbien then Bella and back again as if trying to find a way around Zarbien.

Zarbien didn't attack him though, it would be almost a pity to kill him again after Bella had pretty much sold herself out to bring him back to life.

"Is she okay?" he said "Is Bella okay?"

"She's fine" I said "If it's any of your business" I added

He gave a sigh of relief and I frowned at the look he was giving my sister. I had a feeling that if we got out of this alive there was going to be some trouble between us.

"What happened to her?" he asked

"She got knocked out, I thought that was obvious" I said attempting to make him feel small.

"Will she be alright, has she woken up yet, is she badly hurt?" he said

I rolled my eyes wishing I could use my magic to silence him. I didn't mean kill him I just meant use that spell I used on him before to make him mute. Still the other silencing option seemed almost tempting, my sister was none of his business.

After a dozen questions about Bella none of which I answered instead looking out the cage he finally shut up and settled for checking the other two vampires.

"What happened to Alice and Jasper?" he asked

I continued to ignore him.

"Please tell me, they're my family" he pleaded

"I don't know who you're talking about?" I said bluntly

"Yes you do, the other two vampires who were...chasing you. You'll have seen them at school" he explained as if I really didn't know who he was talking about. Sure I didn't know their names but it was easy to work out. Geez some humans just don't get spiteful sarcasm.

"Well the one with spiky hair ran away and the other one got attacked by Zarbien" I said thinking back to it. I wondered why the girl had fled, the potion should have kept her fuelled with hatred.

The vampire boy looked at Zarbien "Jasper...was he alright?"

I looked at Zarbien. Zarbien replayed his memory of diving at the vampire. To sum up he basically attacked the boy who did put up a fight but was naturally no competition for Zarbien – low modesty in that department - but didn't kill him in the end because he was in too much of a hurry to catch up with the fight and save me and Bella. He simply left the vampire boy very wounded on the road, he then race back to the car after spitting out the vampire's left arm which he had ripped off.

I smirked and looked back out the other side of the cage deciding not to answer. This could be part of the punishment I was building for him since it was due to him Bella had made a dangerous deal with that necromancer.

After about half an hour and few very threatening snarls and snaps the vampire boy finally shut up. He was lucky I was one more annoying question away from letting Zarbien knock him out again.

Light shone through the small barred hole high in the wall at the back of the cell as one of the suns moved across the sky sending a beam of light onto the vampire boy. I didn't really notice staying at the back of the cage in the shadows, I sunburnt very easily.

"What..." he said sounding confused

I looked at him wondering what he meant.

He turned over his hands looking at his arms. I wondered if his kind turned to dust in sunlight or were burned, probably not he didn't seem at all effected.

"That's...strange" he said

"What?" I asked not particularly interested

"I'm not shining" he said

_He's losing it_ said Zarbien

I nodded, this vampire was just weird.

"I'm really not shining, I always shine in daylight" he said sounding almost awed

"_If he's wondering why he's not bursting into flames tell him its night_" said the elf girl from the wall. I looked surprised, I hadn't realised she'd been listening at us, I thought she's been preoccupied with that book.

The vampire boy looked at her blankly.

"She said it's night you blood sucking imbecile" I translated

He frowned "No it's not look outside, it's shining bright"

I didn't bother pursuing his thoughts. I didn't want an argument to form between he an the elf. Mainly because he didn't speak Ancient North Elvish and she didn't appear to speak English.

I myself knew well enough that as long as that purple sun was in the sky it was night for the elves. Elves weren't good in the cold, hence why they tended to live in sunny places. Clearly whatever this vampire boy was rambling about wasn't going to take effect until it was technically day on this continent.

Then Bella coughed spluttering some blood. I was at her side instantly and Zarbien roared as the vampire boy made to dart forward.

She looked up

"Oh God in heaven" she moaned clutching her bloody nose

"Even better it's me" I replied pulling her upwards.

"Oh my nose, oww" she said "He...punched me"

I was fighting the urge to laugh at this, I hadn't imagined such an amusing way of Bella being knocked out. A punch, well that seemed merely childish, I'd grown out of that years ago.

"_If_ _she's complaining it was her fault for struggling_" said the elf girl simply

I ignored her.

"Oww. Can't you do a healing spell?" Bella asked me after frowning at the elf girl's language. Her voice was all blogged up.

"No" I replied shaking my head

Bella frowned "Is this a punishment for what happened with the necromancer?"

I shook my head "I'm saving that for when we get home. _If _we get home. I can't heal you because of these" I said pointing to the runes decorating the edge of the cage. I could sense the power running through them

She looked following them clearly unable to read them.

"They are magic runes, they prevent my magic from working" I explained simply knowing she couldn't understand them and even if she could wouldn't know what they meant.

She turned and saw the vampire boy

"Edward" she exclaimed and stood up fully making to go to him. Zarbien growled unsure whether to let her past or not.

I debated with him but we decided they should remain separate, who knows how long it was since he last drank blood. And within this magic proof cage I was not in the best position to protect her if she lost some.

Despite his and her argument I retreated to my old technique of simply ignoring her completely remaining in telekinetic conversation with Zarbien. She knew I couldn't use magic but could still floor her in a second.

After about twenty minutes a sound came from up above and from the staircase leading out of the dungeons and down came another elf. The elf girl looked upwards looking relieved, I couldn't blame her I expected this was who was going to be replacing her.

"_Hello good-looking_" the elf smiled coming into view. He also looked around my age, maybe a little older. He had long darker orange hair which looked messier than the other elves "_Don't worry I'll rescue you from dungeon duty._"

"_Don't smooth talk me it's your fault I'm here_" she spat looking angry at him

He put on a pretend hurt face "_Now Freda you're taking it the wrong way_"

She laughed "_To hell I am. Guard duty for three weeks, and no hunting for a month. That is totally your fault_"

"_You weren't saying that last night_" he smirked

She looked close to punching him fists curled

"_You knew we were going to get caught didn't you?_" she hissed

"_Vague notion_" he said inspecting his fingernails "_Still I'm not here much longer_"

"_You bastard_" she said

"_Look on the bright side, now our people won't think you're an uptight bitch anymore_" he grinned "_Surely a high class general's daughter like yourself should be seen to have some risks_"

She stormed past him towards the stairs. As she past him he raised an eyebrow and with a flick of the wrist smacked her on her ass as she past.

She whirled around looking furious - I didn't blame her – and literally dived at the other elf.

"_Tora_" he said quickly raising a hand a split second before she hit him square on and a shockwave pushed her back against the opposite wall where she landed in a heap.

Both my eyebrows rose, I didn't see that coming.

The elf girl slid down the wall clutching the back of her head with one hand wincing.

The other elf looked down at her "_Half warlock baby, sorry_"

She gave him a deathly glare then stormed off.

I raised my eyebrows, half warlock? Well what do you know. The elf boy leaned against the wall then pulled his dagger out from his belt and levitated it making it twirl around.

When he tired of that he strolled over to our cage and looked at us as if we were on display.

"_Huh, a witch and familiar, a human and three class-two vampires. Such a weird and illegal combination_" he said shaking his head

"_Do you mind, its torture enough being stuck in here without having rude elves gawking at us_" I snapped

"Can you please speak English Anastasia whatever that language is it's giving me a headache?" moaned Bella next to me

"Gladly" I said turning to her "I don't want to talk to sleazy elves like him anyway and he can't speak English"

"Actually this sleazy elf can" he said speaking perfect English

I was surprised "Your kind speak English?"

He shook his head "No just me, mixed family"

"Half warlock" I nodded

"So you speak elf" he acknowledged

"Clearly" I said

"Can you come out of the shadows, I can't see you at all" he said. I knew elves had very very good sight but no night vision whatsoever.

"Maybe I like it that way" I said stubbornly with no desire to go anywhere near him

He sighed and then said an incantation which literally threw me forward in the cage so it hit the bars.

"Anastasia" cried Bella as I hit the front bars with a slam as Zarbien roared furiously jumping up on two legs towards the boy scratching the bars but unable to penetrate its magic metal.

"Word to the wise" the elf boy said "Prisoners should do what their captors say"

I gave a hiss at him sounding almost like a snake. My anger levels were sending my magic haywire and having it bottled up was scrambling my brain.

The elf boy seemed to frown at me and leaned closer

Then he asked something I did not expect "Do I know you...?"


	65. Vampires and Elves

**Disclaimer: Any references to the original Twilight belong to Stephenie Meyer **

**Apov**

I stared at the elf confused but knew what he meant he did look incredibly familiar. Had we met before, and if so where?

"You know each other?" Bella asked looking from me to him

I pushed myself away from the bars chest aching slightly. Zarbien rubbed against me I could feel the anger running through him and the magic and had to pull away from him as a power rush shot through me.

"I don't think so" I said taking a deep breath

"Hmm" said the elf raising an eyebrow then tilted his head shoulder length orange hair swishing, his eyes searching my face for familiarity then travelling downwards making Zarbien growl.

"So who are you?" he asked with a smile.

"I'm...Bella" Bella said in a small voice when it was clear I wasn't going to answer

"Cute human name" he replied looking at her flashing a smile, at this I saw Bella blush

"Stop it" I ordered him "She's only human, she doesn't understand your mind games"

His eyes flickered back to me, he didn't look especially bothered to be honest, still at least he couldn't get to her, surely even he wouldn't break into cells to get to prisoners. Besides if he tried to touch Bella Zarbien would tear him to shreds.

_Absolutely, no messing_ agreed Zarbien

"What's going to happen to us?" asked the vampire Bella called Edward at the same time as I asked "Where are we?"

"You are in city Dwantarol, country Tarosol, continent Sorolamous, planet Earth" he said simply

I gave him a look, there was still only one planet no matter how much humans were really missing. Still he seemed far more willing to share information than the girl whoever she was.

"There's no continent called Sorolam-whatsit" said the vampire looking at the elf as if he were stupid.

"Sorolamous" the elf corrected "And yes there is, your kind just isn't permitted on it, well actually I'm not entirely sure what you are but she-" he nodded at Bella "- is definitely not. That's why it's kept a secret. And to answer your question, you are to be identified" he nodded at the vampire boy then turned to me "You are to be put on trial, they're considering your story since there appeared to be no tracks from where you were and your magic level is clearly not up to teleport"

I felt a little cross at this but I still didn't like having my weaknesses pointed out

"And you are under execution" he said finally to Bella who paled.

**Bpov **

"Execution!" I exclaimed horrified thinking of those bows

"Well" said the elf "Maybe not execution, if they're lenient they might make you a slave, it all really depends on the superiors and what mood they're in"

I felt my throat close up and turned to Anastasia who was frowning furiously. It was the kind of frown she pulled when she was trying to concoct a clever plan as fast as possible.

"No way" said Edward his freezing hand grasping mine.

I gave Anastasia a sideways glance but she seemed in such deep discussion with Zarbien she didn't seem to noticed.

"What are you anyway?" the elf boy asked Edward folding his arms leaning against the cage.

"I'm...just human" he said lamely

The elf boy gave him a look "You're a terrible liar. Even if I wasn't an elf and couldn't detect when someone's untruthful, I would have to be stupid to think you were human. Now tell the truth what are you and them. I think they said you were some kind of vampire, am I right? What kind?" He added nodding to the unconscious Rosalie and Emmett.

Edward looked astounded, he clearly didn't get we all knew he was a vampire. I decided to answer since Edward didn't even know the answer to the question. Besides if me or Anastasia didn't give it they would just torture him for it.

"They're vampires, class-two" I said

Edward looked at me looking astonished and probably not fully understanding.

"You...you know?" he said

I was about to nod my head when I saw the elf swinging his crossbow from his back and pointing it at Edward eyes darkening.

"Woah!" I cried jumping in front of Edward instinctively

"Bella!" Anastasia said grabbing my arm and dragging me away. She was surprisingly strong for her size and looking at me as if I were an idiot.

"Type two?" the elf said in a much different voice, colder angrier

I struggled in Anastasia's grip didn't know what to say except "Don't hurt him, please"

"Those vampires wiped out colonies of elves all over the lands of Garlatious" the elf hissed and I saw the arrow in the crossbow pulsing with magic, enough to kill Edward instantly

"Anastasia do something" I yelled

She looked at me then the elf "In his defence they were powerful, war trained, rebel vampires who had indepth knowledge of the magical world. This vampire in comparison is weak, knows nothing about war, attends a human secondary school and has about as much knowledge of magic as a cheese sandwich"

The elf raised an orange eyebrow "Won't make any difference, they'll still kill him. Hundreds of thousands of type two vampires fought wars against us"

"Can you honestly see him fighting a war" she said indicating him unarmed in his human clothes. "Besides surely your people will want to sacrifice him something"

The elf looked at Anastasia and smiled lowering the bow "I know you're just saying these things to buy time, but actually you're right my people will want him alive. Oh and sorry to you, my people may have let you off for bringing her" he said nodding at me "But no way are they letting you off for bringing him"

I saw Anastasia glare at Edward and her grip on my arm tighten.

"Pity" he said to Anastasia or me I wasn't sure "You're quite good looking"

"How...how long have we got" I choked

"Until the twilight sun goes down" he said

I stared at him blankly.

"The purple one" Anastasia hissed in my ear.

Didn't elves just use minutes and hours? I had always hated suspense, were they really going to kill us all? Edward, Rosalie, Emmett and I just because of our species and Anastasia just because they thought she brought us here on purpose?

The elf drew his gaze back to Edward still holding the bow.

"I'm watching you" he said "Any sudden movement and this arrow will me through your skull"

Edward didn't move, I could imagine he was confused, to him an arrow was no danger, he didn't yet know that it was tipped with magic. Still it appeared he could sense something was different about this situation for he didn't make to move.

"You're overestimating him" Anastasia said from her corner

"Don't care" the elf said simply

Anastasia shrugged then went back to planning letting go of my arm. I walked back to Edward hoping Anastasia wouldn't notice but she did.

"Bella" she said in a warning tone

"You get in the way and I'll shoot you too" the elf said

I felt my stomach contract. This elf really had a problem with vampires.

I eventually just leaned against the wall in despair. I was going to be killed, Edward was going to be killed and worst of all Zarbien and Anastasia could be killed. All because I couldn't wait a few bloody days for a memory potion. I just wanted to sink into the ground and die (though I suppose I just have to wait a short while).

Edward moved back to stand next to me which made the elf raise his bow again. Clearly the elf was looking at him as some kind of historical master of power vampire, the kind which actually had the capacity to do some serious damage to a civilisation. Definite over-reaction.

Edward held up his signs in surrender as if to mean no harm. He managed to sit next to he without being impaled by any arrows.

"I'm sorry" he said

"For what?" I asked confused

"For all this, you would be back home if I hadn't...attacked you" he said sounding puzzled at this, he clearly didn't understand what had possessed him

"You wouldn't have attacked at all if it weren't for me" I said _And Anastasia_ I added silently in my mind. I gave him my best brave face.

"What are you thinking?" he asked me softly

"What do you think?" I replied. Surely it was obvious, our fate, our horrible upcoming fate.

Edward shook his head "I don't know, I haven't been able to read your mind at all"

As he said these words I went cold.

"_Mind reader!_" growled the elf eyes flashing raising the bow and shooting


	66. Trouble on the Road

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Zarbien and Anastasia **

**I'm gonna continue to leave the last chapter on a cliffhanger, just for effect, instead let's look at what happened back in Forks...**

_**A few hours earlier back on the continent of North America just outside of Forks... **_

**Alipov **

I honestly couldn't remember the last time I had been this angry. I'm usually not such an angry person especially considering I'm a vampire. But now I was furious, from the second I sat up at the school with Edward I felt nothing but fury towards Bella and her sister. Whatever had brought it on had brought it for good reason.

Now it was time to take my vengeance and ensure that that vision of Edward and Bella never came true.

My whole world was spinning and jerking, I felt ecstatic, elated, weird but very very angry. I vaguely took into account that Jasper had been attacked by a large lion but paid no heed to it after all no lion could harm a vampire.

I grabbed hold of their car pulling it back with my super strength. It scowled with a screech.

"I've seen what's going to happen with you and my brother" I hissed angrily to Bella who looked terrified "And I'm sure as hell going to change it"

Bella for some observed reason opened that tiny shiny locket hanging from her very biteable neck and held it towards me. I blinked as a blast of light hit me like sunlight. I was just slightly surprised but not enough to deter me, I was literally about to launch at the her who I now hated for reasons I still wasn't entirely sure of but didn't particularly care when the lion leapt over my head landing right in front of me.

I could not believe how large the lion was, was it real, it roared in my face and I staggered backwards slightly at the force, even though I was surely too angry to be scared the lion's roar had some profound effect on me.

My mind shot three visions into my head.

In one there was a cascade of rocks falling from the sky without mercy, what caused this I didn't know but I did know that they were going to hit us square on. Still no matter that wasn't exactly going to kill us vampires. My aim was still on Bella.

But then the second vision hit me and I saw Jasper sprawled across the road face splattered with blood, across his white face and in his hair. Deep gashes through his chest as he struggled to breathe.

The third was the worst. I think it might be burned into my skull forever. He was dead, just lying there fully dead. I couldn't understand how a vampire could die like that but he was dead I just knew it.

I flashed back and my mouth fell open in horror. Any anger I felt towards the two girls was nothing compared to the panic running through me at the thought of Jasper, my Jasper.

I turned round and sprinted the other way summoning all my vampire speed till the world turned nothing but a blur.

"Alice?" I heard Emmett yell after me but I didn't return, there was no time for explanations.

It didn't take me long to find Jasper, he was lying in middle of the road or at least most of him was. Half way down the road his arm was lying limp ripped clean off his body. There was so much blood.

You don't see much vampire blood, since we are next to impossible to penetrate with our diamond like skin. Carlisle said that the best way to kill a vampire was to rip him to pieces and burn him to ashes. Jasper didn't look like that but something told me that he wasn't going to heal as he usually would. Something weird had happened something that wasn't healing.

I fell on my knees by his side and brushed my hand across his forehead until it was stained with blood.

"Jasper" I said in a choked voice "Jasper please talk to me, please"

"A-al-a-Alice" he choked coughing up a lot of blood.

"Yes yes it's me" I cried "Jasper, jasper stay awake, I'm going to get you to Carlisle okay? Just stay awake"

His head fell sideways limply

I reached inside my pocket and pulled out my mobile, thank god for twentieth century technology. I punched in the number for home trying not to let my shaking hands shatter the tiny phone.

"Carlisle! Carlisle answer the phone!" I screamed as it rang

Jasper was making choking noises as the road got redder and redder with his blood. I gripped his hand tight, tight enough that anything other than vampire skin would break.

Finally like a miracle it picked up

"Carlisle, Carlisle I need you head right now" I screamed

"Alice? Alice it's Esme, what's the matter?" asked Esme sounding concerned

"I need Carlisle now! Jasper's been hurt really really hurt" I said knowing that Jasper wasn't going to last much longer like this

"How?"

"I DON'T KNOW BUT IF JASPER ISN'T HELPED SOON HE WILL _DIE_!"


	67. Why are you Here?

**Merry Christmas reviewers, well its Christmas in England I don't know about everywhere else, the whole time difference thing throws me. **

**Anyway hope you like the chapter. **

**Disclaimer: Any references to the original twilight belong to Stephenie Meyer **

**Apov **

Several things happened very close together from the time when the vampire boy unintelligently revealed that he was apparently a mind reader in front of an armed on edge elf.

The first thing was the release of the magic arrow from the elf's bow. Second was Bella screaming his name, wrenching out of my grip and diving forward as if to push the vampire out the way. Even though I inwardly knew that there was no way Bella could reach him in time, the velocity from the elf crossbow was twice as powerful as that of a human one. Nevertheless I still felt a pound in my chest of pure fear on her behalf, she was my sister and obviously if the vampire with super speed couldn't get out the way in time then she wasn't going to get anywhere near, but still I guess it was instinct. And there's Bella calling me _evil_.

The arrow flew straight towards the vampire reaching him before Bella had even completed the vampire's name but then it stopped in mid flight brushing against his nose. You would have missed if you'd blinked. The vampire's eyes crossed to look at it. The magical tip of the arrow cut his skin slightly sending a trickle of blood down his nose.

Then Bella slammed into him pushing him sideways, a slightly delayed reaction considering.

They both fell to the floor. We all stared at the shining arrow still hovering in mid air slowly rotating. I had to hand it to the elf he looked just as confused as the rest of us.

"Now Will is that any way to make a good impression?" said a voice from the shadows.

We all turned to look into the shadows. The elf raised his crossbow to the figure probably expecting it to be an ally vampire.

"Who are you? How do you know my name? Show yourself" commanded the elf.

When the person emerged it was quite literally the last person I expected.

It was Scorpius.

A thoroughly battered and bruised Scorpius. He had two black eyes and a scar running down his lip and another over his eye. He looked as if he'd been in a bar fight.

He looked from Will to me then to Will again barely giving Bella and her vampire boy a glance.

"Scorpius?" I exploded breaking the silence "What-what-are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question," he replied looking at me raising one white eyebrow "In fact I think I will, what are you doing here?"

"I asked you first" I said stubbornly

"I came to see Will" he said simply nodding at Will

"You two know each other?" I said dumbfounded, I didn't think the elf looked like the person anyone would befriend.

"Yes of course. So do you, don't you remember from that supernatural party we went to? He helped us with those itchy vampires?" he said

My mind flew back. Of course, he'd just been in very different clothes back then. Plus I wasn't filled with bottled up magic adrenaline locked in a cage under sentence of death back then. That was enough to scramble your senses, I felt as if I were going to explode.

Will nodded "I knew I had seen you somewhere before."

"Your turn, why are you here?" Scorpius asked

"That's a long story." I said simply not wanting to share it.

He tilted his head in a provoking manner and I glared at him.

"It's none of your business" I said coldly "You're never getting an advantage on me again"

His smile faded and the blood-tipped arrow fell to the floor, it made no sound being an elf arrow (they made weapons and clothing that made no sound thus avoiding easy detection). Thinking back to Scorpius I knew inwardly that he'd had as little control over the previous situation as I had but I felt he still needed to be punished.

Will was looking from one of us to the other clearly no idea what we were talking about then his gaze flicked back to Edward "If you'll excuse me" he said raising the bow but in a flash it was in Scorpius's hands.

"Scorpius" Will protested

Scorpius shook his head. "What's he done to you?"

"He's a class two vampire" Will said as if that explained everything

"So, he's not exactly a dangerous one" said Scorpius putting the crossbow down a safe distance from Will.

Will made a gagging sound "How do you know he's not one of the rebels?"

Scorpius raised an eyebrow

Will paused "Alright you obviously know he's not but still his kind have killed elves before, they still do, they're dangerous. Why do you think they're type _two's_?"

"You're thinking about the type two vampire's that you've seen, the type that scour this magical continent, the type two vampires that have indepth knowledge of magic, far far superior strength and extreme skill. This vampire is a vegetarian, goes to a human school and has about as much magical knowledge and skill as a cheese sandwich." Scorpius said and I couldn't help but feel the urge to crack a smile.

Will's shoulders sagged "Scorpius...you can't expect me to walk a creature that dangerous walk free"

"Oh so now you're against letting powerful creatures walk free, well that's new when did this phase begin?" Scorpius asked folding his arms with a frown

"No I don't mean it like that" Will said sounding both exasperated and guilty

"Good," said Scorpius "Now to business."

He raised a hand towards the cage and the door swung open with a click. My eyebrows shot up, this cage was magic, protected by powerful runes hence why I hadn't been able to break out? How had he broken through? I put such thoughts aside as Bella and Edward jumped up.

Bella shot out the confines of the cage like an imp on steroids whilst Edward reached down and grabbed one of his fellow vampires and pulled them towards the door. I wasn't too far behind desperate to get my magic back.

The second I was out the door, I shut my eyes tilting my head back slightly and the whole dungeon shuddered as if a mini-earthquake had hit it as all my bottled up magic flooded out of me. Bella actually fell over at the impact. To me it felt like taking a first breath after being underwater so long.

"How did you do that?" I demanded once I got my breath back

"Do what?" Scorpius said innocently

"Break us out of that cage, how did you do that? That had protective runes around it. I couldn't break it" I said

Scorpius paused for a minute while Will glanced sideways at him then shrugged it off. "You only couldn't do that because you were inside the influence of the cage. If you outside you would have done it"

"Yeah" nodded Will "The runes are mainly just for show" then held a finger in front of his lips. "But don't go telling our enemies that"

On that note Edward pulled the second unconscious vampire out the cage dumping her unceremoniously on the floor. Will looked at them as if they were grime on the floor.

"So what are we going to do with them?" he asked fingers twitching in a sense which suggested he would be willing to fight them right now. His tone said it all.

I wondered whether he was including Bella and me in this statement.

"We're going to get them back to their homes" said Scorpius as if it was as simple as a levitation spell.

This was the answer I wanted to hear but I still had to ask "Scorpius how the hell do we get away from here? We're not even on the right continent, it's not as if we can just teleport back. Neither of us has the magic to escape"

Scorpius seemed to pause then nodded "You're right but you haven't met Will, he can get us out of the elves clutches and we can find our way back from there."

I stared at him, was he insane? He wasn't talking much sense.

"Well this way" said Will clearly not addressing the vampires.

We followed him up the stairs, I couldn't help feeling that I was walking into a death trap. I wasn't particularly an optimist. The elf boy pulled out his keys and unlocked the dungeon door (once again silently).

"Hey wait" called the vampire boy

We all turned round on the stairs to see him holding up the blonde female vampire "I can't carry them both"

"Leave them" said Will simply eyes flashing

The vampire stared at him looking horrified at the concept "No way, they are my family."

Scorpius rolled his eyes "Alright you find a way to hold those vampires. Can you just excuse Will and I for just a moment, I need to talk to him, alone."

I stared at Scorpius "Now isn't the best time for a cosy chat Scorpius, in a matter of hours or minutes for all I know elves I going to be coming to line us up for shooting practise."

"It will only take a second really" he said and pulled Will out the dungeon door by the arm making him yelp a little then shut the door.

I blinked in surprise. Who did he think he was? I pulled on the door but it wouldn't open I tried a charm but it didn't budge. I noticed runes around its edge, the elf must have locked it.

"Scorpius" I yelled banging on the door yanking on it with all my strength "Scorpius you let us out right now. _Scorpius_!"

**Hmm – how did Scorpius get there and how did he get them out of the cage? Puzzler. I'm surprised nobody guessed it was Will or at least didn't put it in a review. **

**I guess Edward's life was my Xmas present to you reviewers. If you think that chapter was a little uncreative that might be because I wrote it in less than an hour, I was determined to post one on Xmas. **

**Have a happy holiday. **


	68. The Doctor Is In

**We're going back to Forks – sorry if you're more interested in the others but all things must be resolved. **

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Zarbien **

**Alpov**

I lifted Jasper onto my back slinging his arm – his other was across the road - around my neck getting blood all over myself and then ran. Dear God he was heavy, if he were human I'd be probably fine but he wasn't.

Still I couldn't go back for the car, not with a fight going on whilst Jasper bled to death. Besides nothing was faster than a vampire when it got running...well except maybe a werewolf and now I suppose maybe a gigantic lion which could cut through vampire skin.

The world started to blur around me as I ran faster in the direction of home and I felt Jasper's head lolling around his body weight slowing me down. I'd never really wished I was taller before (except if I was shopping and they didn't have my size) but now I did because Jasper's legs were trailing on the floor getting scratched horribly as I ran.

"Argh" I cried stopping after a while back aching like crazy

Jasper's only reply was to cough up a lot of blood down the back of my neck.

I started up again "Hold on Jasper, just hold on"

After a while of running – which at my speed minus Jasper's burden – had got us into Forks Jasper finally went limp and I tensed. I stopped and put him down on the ground gently as his eyes shut. I fell to my knees beside him.

"No, no, no, no. Jasper! Jasper don't please, wake up, wake up!" I screamed at him slapping his face which just turned limply

He didn't move an inch and I couldn't even tell if he was dead or not, he never breathed so how did I know if he were dead or unconscious. They always say if the person you loved died you can feel it but in the mood I was in all I could feel was panic.

I felt my throat close up, he couldn't die, he simply couldn't, he had saved me before, I saw him in a vision when I had first woken up as a vampire, he had been what had kept me going. I needed him, I _loved_ him.

"Alice!" a voice shouted

I spun round and saw Carlisle and Esme at the end of the road. I didn't move as they ran towards me and Jasper by our side in a second.

"Please help him" I cried not moving "Please"

"What? What happened?" said Carlisle looking dumbfounded

"A lion, a huge lion, it attacked him, it tore of his arm" I said

"A lion?" Carlisle said incredulously

I didn't understand it myself, there was no way a lion could take down a vampire, it just didn't make sense. None of this made sense.

"Alright, we need to stop the bleeding" he said voice going suddenly professional

He pulled his shirt off over his head and dropping down and tore it in half wrapping one half the full length around Jasper's shoulders so he could get it over where his arm had previously been, that area was spouting blood like a fountain.

With the other half he pushed down on the giant gashes in chest putting pressure on that. At this Jasper's eyes flew open and he yelled in agony.

I jumped, he was alive! Oh God he was alive!

Carlisle looked up at Esme who was standing frozen.

"Esme get me a branch" he ordered

"What?" she said looking confused

"NOW!" Carlisle yelled and she ran to the side of the road and back holding a thick stick.

"What do you need that for?" I asked

"All the bloods running out of this arm and his chest, the other ones completely come out of it's socket and it's getting less and less blood, I need to get it back in before it gives out. Can pou hold his shoulders"

"Yes" I said not really understanding what he was planning to do

I only understood why he had asked for a branch when he put in inside Jasper's mouth. The branch just fit inside.

Carlisle grabbed his remaining arm and gripped it "Don't let okay. One two-"

"Oh God" I said

"_Three_" Carlisle said and wrenched his arm forward

"AARRGGHH!!!!!" Jasper yelled lurching upward "AAAARRRGGHHH!!!!!!!!!!"

Esme looked away but I couldn't not look as Jasper yelled out in pain vampire teeth cutting clean through the branch. I had to fight to keep his shoulders on the floor.

After what felt like an eternity of his cries he just fell back gasping in pain.

"Alright, I'm taking him to the hospital" Carlisle said

"You're doing what?" asked Esme speaking for the first time

Carlisle stood up "He's dying like a human so I'll heal him like a human"

Esme shook her head "But he's a vampire the humans will notice they'll-"

"I DONT CARE" I yelled at Esme who looked taken aback "If it will heal him I want it done"

I pulled Jasper up and gave him to Carlisle who looked more able to carry him.

I watched Jasper like this, he could still die and I hated the two sisters more than ever.


	69. The Whole Truth

**Cool 150 reviews! **

**There's going to be a big explanation in this chapter, I think the new year should start with Edward finally being allowed into what's going on. **

**Disclaimer: Any references to the original Twilight belong to Stephenie Meyer **

**Epov**

"Scorpius! Scorpius let us out right now!" yelled Bella's sister hitting the door looking very frustrated

I just felt sick. I didn't know where I was but from what I had taken in I was accompanied by a witch and had just very nearly been shot by an elf. That thought didn't even make sense. But here they were large as life the witch-girl shooting some spells at the door, literally fire bursting from her fingertips and as for that elf boy, well one look at his ears said it all. It had been weird enough taking in that vampires and werewolves exist but really this was off the scale...was it possible all fairytale creatures exist?

I turned to the unconscious Emmett and Rosalie and wondered how on Earth I was going to be able to move them both, they were both taller than me and with Emmett well lets just say muscle weighs more than fat.

As I delved into thought I saw the picture of Jasper coming to mind, I still wanted to know what had happened to him, after what that lion did to me I couldn't imagine what it had done to Jasper.

I glanced at it hatefully, my only thought was that it was wrong, it shouldn't be that way, lions shouldn't be that large or have that look of intelligence, nor should they be able to rip through vampires as if they were as fragile as humans. I still wasn't even sure what it had done to me, I heard Bella and his sister babbling about necromancers and bringing me back to life but I wouldn't believe that, coming back to life was just too ludicrous.

I tasted blood in my mouth, my own blood and wiped it away, that arrow had cut my nose, I was pretty sure that if that arrow had run its full course I would be out of the picture.

"Are you alright Bella?" I asked looking at her

She had been looking at her sister but then turned her gaze to me. Even terrified in a dungeon of all places I still thought she looked beautiful, beautiful and delicious.

She shook her head in reply "We're not out of this yet"

"Can you tell me...what all this is now?" I asked

Bella hesitated then shook her head "It's not really my secret to tell"

I stared at her incredulously "_Now_? You can't tell me _now_, after all this trouble? I have a right to know, I want the truth, the whole truth"

Bella turned to her sister "Anastasia?" she asked timidly

Her sister didn't reply

"Anastasia" Bella said louder

"What?" her sister said angrily turning to her looking slightly red in the face which wasn't a good look against her pale skin.

"Can I tell Edward well...everything, since he's a supernatural and it's our fault he's here?" she asked

Anastasia just sighed "Tell him what you want"

Bella turned to me "Alright well first I need to ask are you absolutely sure you want to know, it will change a lot of things for you?"

I nodded, I'd never been more sure of anything in my entire life.

"And you promise not to tell anyone else"

"Even my family?" I said giving a glance to Emmett and Rosalie

"Even your family. Promise? Promise that you'd rather have your head cut off and your heart burned in a fire" she said

My eyes widened at this but then just said "Alright I promise"

"Alright well...I know that you're not human"

I nodded "I got that. Are you...alright with what I am?"

"A vampire?" she said raising an eyebrow "Well I wasn't at first, I've sort of trained myself to be wary of dangerous supernatural creatures. But...now I know you better I don't think I mind too much"

I nodded inwardly kind of relieved.

"What are you?" I asked "You're human right?"

She nodded "Yes, yes I am completely"

I let out a sigh of definite relief and nodded "But then how come your sister is a witch? That is what she is yes?" I asked feeling stupid

"Yeah she's a witch, but she's my half sister her father was a warlock, a powerful one too. So she's a witch and I'm not." She explained

"And who were those boys?" I asked

"Well one of them is an elf you can tell by the ears and the other one I think is a friend of Anastasia's from school" she said but didn't sound a hundred percent sure on either of them

"OK. But how...how can people not know about this it seems so...large" I asked at a loss for a better word

Bella smiled downwards "Well most people see what they expect to see not what they really want to see. People may want to see magic and everything like in story books but honestly don't expect to so they don't"

I wasn't completely sure what she meant by this but just nodded as if I understood

"Plus supernaturals – you know ones that really know what's going on – are clever at keeping it under wraps. They have mind wipes and glamour to keep themselves hidden." She said

"Right. Then why didn't I know, you called me supernatural" I asked. I felt as if I were describing myself as some kind of alien.

"Well some supernaturals just don't know, they're just not told. As long as you don't draw too much attention to yourself Anastasia's people won't spare you any attention. Plus you're kind aren't magical, you look fairly human to a human's eyes and frankly you're not any kind of threat to them since you don't know anything at all"

"But then if humans don't know, why do you know?" I quieried trying not to take offence

"I'm within three generations of Anastasia's family thereby I am legally allowed to find out about the supernatural world" she said

"But I'm not?" I asked

"Technically you are, since you're supernatural, if you were human there's no way Anastasia would let me tell you."

"So why can't I tell my family?" I said thinking to how they react. Emmett would find it entertaining, Carlisle interesting, Alice would like it, Jasper pretty cool and Rosalie, well she'd probably just be annoyed that a bunch of weird creatures were prettier than her.

"The less people know the better. Your family don't know the boundaries and would find it easy to let it slip out. I want you to keep it to yourself, just make up some story for them."

"OK. So if it's your family does your mother and Charlie know too?" I asked scarcely able to imagine that our chief of police knew we were vampires

She shook her head "Charlie isn't Anastasia's dad remember, its three generations of _her_ family not mine I account for nothing. And we didn't really tell Renee either because well she'd a little erratic and we were afraid magic might push her a little over the edge."

I put a hand to my head, this was just so much to take in. I f I could sleep I'd assume this was a dream. "So alright if this is all true and you can't do magic then why can't I read your mind?"

I had to ask it had been bugging me for ages.

"Anastasia shielded my mind ages ago, it would take a really powerful mind reader to get in here" she said tapping her head "Someone a lot stronger than you"

"Right" I said slowly

"Some humans have natural resistance but I don't think I do" she continued "Anastasia just put a spell over my mind"

"What else did she do to you?" I demanded with a little more force than I intended. I just didn't like the way she was talking about this so casually, it sounded as if her sister had turned into Frankenstein and experimented on her.

"Nothing much" Bella said looking a little defensive "I mean when she explained everything to me I could see magical things, mythical things, supernatural things the works, the knowledge opened my mind. I found fairies in forests and imps in the garden, the odd ghost in a hospital. My sight is weak, it's nothing compared to Anastasia's I don't know how she copes, she sees things everywhere. But back to the point no all the things she's ever done to me have been for my own good, well except making my hair red and my eyes blue they used to both be brown"

My eyebrows shot up at this

Bella shrugged as if she didn't care "I'm used to it now, can't see it any other way. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, it's just a lot to take in that's all"

"Well if you don't believe me everything will stay the same once we're out of here if you do believe me you might start seeing the things I do, it depends how strong your mind is Anastasia had to open my mind with an actual spell to make me see. You never know maybe you'll get the sight"

"So I'll start seeing things? You mean things like fairies and goblins and dragons?" I said nervously

"Fairies yes they're everywhere in places like Forks, goblins no they don't live in America and dragons definitely not, they only live on magical continents like this one, they're rare." She said like an expert

"You really know this stuff don't you?" I said weakly

Bella laughed "No I don't I barely know anything. The extent of my knowledge is the most basic creatures and basically whether or not they live in America that way I can steer clear of them. If you want real knowledge you have to ask Anastasia she's the genius"

I looked over to her as she talked to her lion and raised an eyebrow hands shining with light then looked back to Bella.

"Bet she couldn't do advanced science" I said giving her a supportive smile

Bella laughed "Yeah I guess not. She doesn't care about that stuff, in fact she says half of human knowledge of science is rigged by magicians so we don't get suspicious of how the world really works aka magic. So she doesn't think there's any point learning it. She's probably lying though" yet the tone of her voice didn't sound too sure.

"You really care about her don't you?" I said

She looked at me and nodded "Yeah, but I've always needed her more than she needs me."

I felt sorry for her then. She looked so small and I could see the longing in her eyes when she looked at Anastasia.

"I'm going to lose her. Even if we get out of this I'm going to lose her, soon she be going off to a magical school and after that she be an adult and probably won't want to see me as much after all I'm only human" she said

"Don't say that. You don't need her you'll be fine." I said suddenly aware that I was acting like an old friend when this was probably the longest conversation I'd had with her.

"Well," she shrugged "I may not even live that long, I mean look at the odds of this we'd need a miracle to get out of this alive"

I looked at the situation at all the angles, it seemed she was right we needed a miracle.


	70. Guy Talk

**70 chapters, nice round number. **

**We're still in elf country. Bit of Scorpius's pov for a change. **

**Disclaimer: Any references to the original Twilight belong to Stephenie Meyer – although I've started to notice there's becoming a lot less this far into the story **

**Spov **

I secured the door with a locking spell, one which neither Anastasia nor her familiar could break out of. Then turned to Will who grinned that familiar grin. I could hear her banging on the door shouting my name, she clearly didn't like being left out.

"That girl is gullible" Will said "She swallowed everything, even that our runes aren't powerful which is practically an insult in itself"

"Only because I cast a spell on her" I said knowing if I hadn't she would be seriously doubting me. She wasn't the most trusting person and since it was me I wouldn't exactly blame her.

"So what are you really doing here?" Will asked

"Nice welcome" I said raising an eyebrow

"No, I mean it's great to see you, I just wasn't expecting you here. You're not very...popular with my people" he let the rest die

"The restraining order" I nodded

Will and I had got into a lot of trouble as was usual and gone so far the elves had actually banned me from their domain on pain of death. Naturally it was not them but my brother who made me leave but I had allowed that restraining order to remain purely because I wanted to leave my mark on the elf civilisation.

"I sensed some trouble going on with Anastasia" I explained

"You've been monitoring her?" asked Will looking surprised

"No not really I just started well, a few seconds before the minute I appeared and well I got the distinct feeling she was in a lot of danger which she was" I nodded imagining her being killed by elves.

"But why were you monitoring her?" Will asked

"I was just thinking about her, you know my powers get all over the place" I shrugged innocently

"Right, and what exactly did that girl mean when she said take advantage of her?" Will asked wryly

I rolled my eyes knowing what was going on in his head "You have a sick mind Will"

"Do not" he protested

I'd known Will since I was a child, we'd always been best friends but when Will had grown into a teenager he had got hit by so many hormones it seemed uncanny. Over the course of a year he had turned from a funny, prank-loving, unruly, untidy kid to a funny, prank-loving, unruly, untidy, sleezy womanizer.

Still I had to admit in this case he was pretty spot on.

"I take it you're brother paid a visit" said Will

I raised my hand to one of my black eyes and nodded. It still hurt, Kanan had little mercy when he was angry. These small marks were nothing compared to the magic he hit me with.

"Why did he do it? What did you do?"

I hesitated then decided to tell him after all he was my best friend.

"I'll tell you okay but you have to promise not to laugh" I said

Will nodded in agreement

_Approximately thirty seconds later..._

Will pounded his hand on the wall spluttering with laughter.

"Will stop it" I said crossly

Will just laughed harder

"Will if you don't stop laughing I will turn you into a lizard, an ugly lizard" I warned

"Alright alright" Will said struggling to keep his voice under control

"Thankyou" I said annoyed

"Does she know?" he asked wiping a tear away

I shook my head

"That is one funny way to die" said Will

"Yeah that's probably the way you wanna go right?" I said irritably

Will just smiled "Are you going to tell her?"

"No" I replied, "It would make her suspicious"

"And more than a little creeped out" added Will earning himself a death glare

"It was just an accident, I had just had my potion" I said. I'd been saying this to myself since, furious for taking it then. The ironic thing was I had taken it at the time assuming that we would both be safer had I taken it, however it had turned out the other way round. I wouldn't have been overcome by that stupid orb thing otherwise. One more thing for Will to laugh about.

"Hmm. Never thought of your kind doing anything like that" he said "Figured you couldn't"

Now it was my turn to laugh "What?"

He shrugged "Well I don't know, when people think of your kind that is not what they think of is it?"

"It wouldn't be the best image for us" said Scorpius sarcastically

"Still, are you going to mind wipe her or just leave her hanging, she's bound to be curious of why everything just went black around her isn't she?" Will asked

"Mind wipe her" I said firmly though I had to admit I hated the idea.

"Well your brother will be put at rest" Will said

I smiled downwards "Kanan would be happier if she were dead."

"Like me" Will grinned looking quite proud at the prospect

"Kanan thinks you're dead as it is, it was the only way I could keep you safe when he found out you knew about us. Huh, the moral of your story is don't become ludicrously famous" I said remembering persuading my brother Will was dead, it had tested my mind blocking powers to the limit.

"Well I can't promise anything bro, I am very talented and extremely handsome" he said smugly

"And modest" I said as he brushed back his orange hair behind his pointed ear in a quick jerky motion mimicking a famous elf who you to do so

I fighted a smile, I liked hanging out with Will, it was so easy just to talk to him, someone who really knew all about me and my secret. Sometimes it was so infuriating I just wanted to scream it out to the world. But even the slightest mishap and I end up with injuries like the ones on my face now. There were no jokes when it came to my brother.

"So if you are going to mind wipe her why the escape Dwantarol act. You could just teleport her home and have done with it?" he said

"Yeah...I suppose..." I said voice trailing of as her image came to mind, I didn't want to mess with her head, I liked her just the way she was.

"What?" Will asked

"Nothing" I said shaking my head breaking out of my thoughts "Yeah I'll go home"

"So I'll see you..."

"Soon, Darkhalls" I finished

"Wow it's finally time" Will said splitting another grin

"Finally" I said. Forks had been my own hell. "Think what it'll be like there..."

"Probably strict. We'll have to change, be reliable, responsible, dependable and lots of other things that end in 'ible'."

We both burst out laughing. I put a hand on his shoulder

"I'll see ya mate"

"You too"

Then I let my powers loose and teleported back to Forks as I had a thousand times but this time taking a frustrated teenage witch, a scared human and three type-two vampires with me.


	71. I Don't Belong Here

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they blong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia, Zarbien and Scorpius**

**Apov**

I beat on the elven door furiously until my knuckle really hurt. None of my magic could break through the elf runes and I'd already tried about fifty spells. Now I knew that Will had been lying that their runes were not powerful, I couldn't break them and neither could Zarbien, I was yet to figure out how Scorpius had.

I was about to let out another breath of frustration when something unexpected happened.

My whole world seemed to flash slightly then suddenly I found myself somewhere entirely different somewhere which reeked of...human_ness_. My legs almost gave way at the shock of it all, what the bloody hell....?

I let out the breath in honest to god shock and blinked a few times stunned then around. Oh. My. God. We were in Bella's father's house. In the living room, with her father's ugly furniture, out the window I could see it was dusk the moon rising in the sky. I could scarcely believe it, had this all been some kind of twisted dream, no I was wearing the same stuff.

I noticed Bella on the floor, she clearly hadn't been able to keep her balance. Still Bella could never keep her balance. She looked up and around looking as surprised as I was then looked at me.

I just stood there, this just didn't make sense, there was no way this was possible it was breaking all my magical guidelines. I wondered whether I'd been hit with a delusion spell or something. This just didn't make sense, I had been in a dungeon on a different continent, I know I had.

"Anastasia?" Bella said

I didn't answer turning my attention to Zarbien

_Please tell me you're seeing what I'm seeing _I said not wanting to think I was losing my wits

_If you're seeing Bella's house then yeah_ he replied turning and knocking over a small table. At this he changed back into a cat lest he turn over the rest of the furniture in his confusion.

"Did...did you save us?" Bella asked looking at me as she sat up

I shook my head slowly

"Then what...what did?" she asked

"I don't know" I said slowly hating these words

She looked both startled and scared "But then-"

"Oh my God" said another voice from the side of the room

Bella spun round but I just sighed. I recognised that voice and turned slowly to see Bella's father. He was in his police outfit staring, at least Zarbien had transformed back to a cat.

"Where have you been?" he said in a choked voice staring at Bella

She got up properly and seemed at a loss of words "Uh..um, well..."

"_Where have you been?_" he yelled

"Look char – dad-" she started

"You disappear in the middle of the night, the truck's gone, no warning to anyone, you're missing for an entire day, no trace. Where the hell have you been? I've got people looking for you"

I raised an eyebrow, all this appeared directed at Bella, I doubted he would have been the least bit perturbed if I'd vanished of the face of the earth for good, he'd probably just be _relieved_.

As usual Bella had no good lies and turned to me for help. I guessed I could just do a memory spell, humans were easy to hypnotise.

Her father who had gone fairly red in the face followed Bella's gaze to me. His features darkened.

"It was _you_" he said pointing at me voice edged with loathing

I raised the same eyebrow at the accusation. I didn't make a how of expressing emotions like Bella did.

"You did this, you kidnapped Bella!" he shouted

This wasn't true, some might say Bella had kidnapped me. Since I was so delusional from my own clearly well-functioning spell I had had no idea what was going on and it was Bella who had got me in that car and drove like hell out of Forks. I didn't bother to say this though.

"No dad she didn't" Bella started

"DON'T _LIE_ TO ME BELLA" he thundered making Bella jump in surprise as his voice rose much louder "THAT GIRL BRINGS NOTHING BUT TROUBLE, SHE IS BAD AND EVIL AND DON'T BELONG HERE, I WANT HER _OUT OF MY HOUSE_!"

That was when I lost my patience, when I'd finally had enough.

"I couldn't agree more" I replied then stormed out of the room followed by Zarbien who hissed at him with his cat fangs and followed me. I shot a few nasty wordless hexes at her father which would soon take effect.

"Anastasia" Bella cried after me running

I had stalked up the stairs getting as far away from that imbecile of a man as possible. Besides I needed to talk this through will Bella where his oversized human ears could hear.

I walked into her room then walked out again deciding to stay in the hall for the colours of her room were bright and sickening. I wasn't gothic but I couldn't stand colours like that.

Bella soon came up the stairs after me "Bella where are you going?" she asked looking alarmed

"We are going away from here, far away"

"But...but we can't mom and Phil are travelling now-" she started

"We won't go to them" I said before she really started rambling

"But then..."

"We'll go to some of my friends, we can stay with them for a while, at least till I go to Darkhalls then I guess you'll have to come back here" I said and almost actually pitied her thinking of having to return to this...place.

"You...you mean magical friends?" she said in a whisper

I gave her a look. I _only_ had magical friends.

She shook her head "They won't like me, your friends don't like humans"

"As long as I run them through it they'll be fine. Just make sure not to get on their nerves" I shrugged and could see the fear in her eyes.

Still she was just going to have to live with it, I couldn't stay here I just couldn't.

"Look Anastasia just think this through, Charlie didn't mean what he said" she said pleading

"Oh trust me he meant exactly what he said and for once I couldn't agree with him more, I do not belong here, this place has been hell for me and that it why we are leaving _tonight_"

"But we...we can't leave" she said

"And why not?" I demanded turning to go down the stairs to collect my stuff. I could hardly believe I'd stayed here this long already, what had possessed me?

"Because...because..." she said desperately

I headed down the stairs not wanting to hear her always useless excuses.

"Because I'm in love with Edward Cullen!" she shouted and I stopped dead

I turned around slowly and looked up to the top of the stairs where she was pressing herself against the railing staring at me hopelessly.

"What?" I said

"I am, I am I'm in love with Edward Cullen" she said putting a hand to her head.

Wow she looked as if she were actually serious about this. Bella loving a vampire, my sister falling for a supernatural? Well that was weird in itself I didn't think Bella had the guts.

I groaned shutting my eyes in annoyance.

"Bella you can't expect me to stay here just because you think you've fallen for a vampire" I said

"Please, please Anastasia I really do think I have fell in love with him. I have." She said looking at me with those blue eyes that used to be brown.

"Bella, seriously, you've probably fallen for him because apparently to you humans he looks handsome. But really come on the guys a prat he tried to kill us"

"Yeah because you gave him a loathing potion" she threw back

I ground my teeth irritated. It would give me a headache to hypnotise Bella since she knew so much about my world and had practise at shielding her mind but if I had to I would do it, I was not leaving Forks without her, still she didn't know that.

"Fine" I said coldly "You stay here, be with your vampire but don't come crying to me when he's drained you dry"

She looked brought up short

I folded my arms "Seriously Bella there is no person on earth who could persuade me to stay in this hell hole, I don't belong here. Now you make your choice, it's me or him take your pick"


	72. Choose

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Zarbien **

**Bpov**

I stared at Anastasia her arms folded awaiting my decision dark eyes narrowing. Would she really leave me? 'Of course she would' said part of my mind that often cropped up to torment me, 'She's never needed you like you need her, you're just a human.' I told it to shut up and leave telling it that I was her sister and she would never leave me. But would she...

Now she was asking me to go and live with a bunch of witches or sorcerers or whatever weird creatures she was friends with. I could picture them, I saw fangs and wands and darkness and danger, it would only take one slip up and I'd be dead, I couldn't handle living with them could I?

But I couldn't picture my life without Anastasia, she was like my family, the only family that had stayed with me the whole way, she'd kept me afloat all these years and yet for some weird reason life without Edward seemed a lot less bright.

"I'm waiting" Anastasia said looking slightly irritated at my delay in response

"I...fine I pick you, you know I pick you but why can't we just stay here together. I want to stay with you but I also want to stay with Edward – oh my God what happened to Edward!" I cried for the first time realising the obvious, he wasn't here.

Anastasia shrugged clearly not caring too badly "I imagine he's back at his own home, whoever teleported us here clearly knew where we live, there is a good chance they knew where he lived too. And if not then he may still be back in elf country where he will definitely be killed"

I felt the blood drain from my face.

I thought in horror of if he were dead, if Edward were dead. Oh God I needed to know I needed to know right this second whether he was alright whether he was home or impaled with elf arrows.

"We have to go to his house and see if he's there" I said urgently

"No we don't" Anastasia replied carelessly heading back down the stairs

"Anastasia I will go wherever the hell you want if you'll just let me find out if Edward is back at his home" I said "Please"

She turned her head but stop walking looking at me as if I was a child "Bella you will come with me whether I take you there or not. You know you will. I don't want to waste time."

She could read me like a book. Come on Bella improvise...

"I won't argue, if you just let me see him I would moan or complain or argue just please please let me see him" I begged

She stopped and raised an eyebrow – why did she always do that? – and seemed to be considering "No argument? Nothing?"

I nodded

She sighed "Alright fine it'll be nice to get there without you groaning on"

I couldn't help feeling a little offended, sure I would have moaned a lot but she was dragging me out a whole life I had settled into as it was so much more comfortably human, she was throwing me deeper into her world of monsters and magic I had full right to complain.

"Well go pack your stuff whatever it is you actually have. We leave as soon as I'm ready" she said heading in the direction of the living room where all her suitcases were.

I went into my room and started piling up all my stuff, clothes, books ect.

I felt tears prickling my eyes and wiped them away quickly even though there was no-one there to see, why was I such a crybaby?

I just couldn't help thinking of all the things I'd lose.

What was I going to do about school? I'd miss my exams, fail my human education for I was pretty sure her friends wouldn't attend a human school that is if they attended a school at all. I still stuffed some of my work in just in case.

What about my friends, I'd finally succeeded in making some Mike, Angela and all and now I was just going to lose them all. This whole human life had seemed so much simpler. Still I was used to losing things by now. But what killed me most about this was losing all contact with the Cullens, well with Edward anyway I hadn't really got to know the rest, I'd been too scared, I'd shared a few words with his sister Alice, been attacked by her and the other three and never even met he elder two.

Still it was worth it, if I was with Anastasia that was fine, she would keep me safe, she was most important, she was my family.

The word family made me stand up straight. I realised I had to tell Renee that we were going, she would have a panic attack if I didn't, even if Anastasia hypnotised Charlie with a good excuse she'd be furious not to hear it from me. I speed typed on my computer and sent a quick and very vague message about what was happening mainly because a barely knew myself. I had no idea where we were going and which supernaturals we would be meeting, I decided it was better that way.

Concentrate on Edward I told myself, you need to see if he's alright. He'll be alright, he'll be alright, oh please god let him be alright...

I heard the door nudge open and saw Zarbien stumble in the room in lion form. My eyes widened, what was he doing in lion form when Charlie was right downstairs. Sure we were leaving but was it worth the risk?

I was about to tell him to change back when he stumbled and fell sideways onto the floor making it rumble under his weight, then he went limp.

My mouth fell open.

"Zarbien!" I said falling to my knees "Zarbien what's wrong"

I pulled on his mane which I knew he hated from anyone except Anastasia, still he would never hurt me. I shook his huge head (at least as much as I could) shouting his name. What on earth could make this happen?

I reached again on his mane and my hand went forward, straight through Zarbien body as if he weren't even real. I drew my hand back stunned.

"Anastasia!" I yelled at the top of my lungs "Anastasia, something really wrong with Zarbien. _ANASTASIA!_"

**Sorry for all of those who wanted Bella to pick Edward but she has just realised she loves Edward and it wouldn't really fit with my next few ideas. **


	73. What lies Beyond the Door?

**Disclaimer: Any references to the original Twilight belong to Stephenie Meyer**

**Apov**

I walked down the stairs and into the living room with Zarbien at my heels in cat form feeling quite good. I knew hadn't really needed to ask Bella who she'd choose out of me and the vampire, it was always going to be myself, still it was nice to hear it from her anyway, the only thing that had disturbed me was why she hadn't answered me immediately.

I headed into the living room and started putting things into my suitcase. Most things were already in but the odd piece of clothing, discarded potion bottle and a couple of magic books were strewn on the floor. I had never been tidy and had probably been lucky Bella's dim-witted father hadn't stuck his nose in my stuff.

I looked over to him, he had collapsed in the corner and was both twitching and moaning at the same time a purple red rash forming over his skin, that would teach him to shout at me. He was clutching a phone in his hand, he had clearly been in the process of calling someone when he collapsed. Still at least he'd provided me with the sense to get the hell out of here.

All we had to do was take a quick detour to the vampire's house. It should be safe now I hadn't hit the two older Cullen's with anything deadly and as far as I knew the ones I had hot had all been unconscious since, that will have made the potions effect cease so none of them should feel the magical urge to kill us and even if they did now I had my powers back I could get rid of any vampires which stood in the way.

Once we'd checked the vampires were back which Bella seemed desperate to clarify then we'd would finally be out of this hell hole, goodbye barren wasteland hello magical paradise.

_Can I raid the kitchen, her fathers got about a two or three year supply of fish? _Zarbien asked who obviously couldn't pack anything

_Feel free _I said absentmindedly sorting a few clothes.

He walked off as I held up the dress I had worn to that supernatural party Scorpius had taken it to, I couldn't help smiling slightly, I wasn't sure why it wasn't exactly something I did all too often especially since I'd had to move here. Oh well.

I tossed it in the suitcase with the rest of my clothes.

It hadn't taken long to pack since I had so little stuff and the aid of magic, all I had left was my coat in the hall and Bella. I decided to get the coat first.

_Zarbien can you go and get Bella_ I said targeting his mind in the kitchen

_I'm eating_ he said sounding in a good mood

I rolled my eyes. What was it with Zarbien and fish? I was pretty sure he was mauling the whole supply in lion form by now. I suppose it was a treat for him he rarely got fish because I didn't like them and he never caught them himself for he was so scared of water. I truthfully didn't like water either I was a little stronger and faster than the average human with much better reactions but I was still not a strong swimmer. Coral had tried to teach me once upon a time but it never really worked plus after some time her brother was enough to put me off both swimming and fish for life.

_Zarbien! _I insisted

_Oh fine_ he said sounding as if he'd finished anyway

I heard him padding up the stairs as I headed towards the door to the hall to get my black coat which I had had since I was a kid (its size altered every year depending on how I grew, handy).

However when I opened the door I saw something I did not expect.

Through the doorway was not the hallway of the house which it should have been. I could see a different place much larger through the doorway which practically radiated magic. I stared at it for a second then walked through the doorframe into the room beyond. It didn't have any windows but had a high ceiling, bookcases lined the wall all along with an assortment of magical objects all lined up very neatly. In one corner was a bed which was probably bigger than Bella's whole room, a chandelier type thing hung from the roof.

I couldn't see any other doors out of the room just the one I had entered through, where on earth was I?

The I felt the drain, Zarbien wasn't near me, not remotely. Wherever I was it was very far away from the house which lay on the other side of that doorway. My legs felt weak as my power decreased significantly magic trickling away, leaving me rather defenceless and empty feeling for magic was my fuel.

I decided to go back, I was getting significantly weaker here and I didn't know where I was or if I was safe who knew what possibly dangerous creatures lived here, I was in no state to fight back to anything magical.

"Hi" said a voice from the corner

I spun around in surprise and saw Scorpius leaning against the wall in the corner looking at me with a smirk on his face

"Scorpius?" I said faintly

He didn't answer and just raised a hand and snapped his pale fingers. The door I had entered through slammed shut and locked.


	74. The Loss of Limbs

**Disclaimer:**** None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Scorpius **

**Alpov**

I'd been sitting outside the waiting room for ages waiting for Jasper to be declared alive or dead. I kept having mixed visions ones of him dead ones of him alive. My head was spinning pure anxiety killing me. I wanted to be in there with him but it wasn't allowed, I had got into a hell of an argument with of the doctors about it.

After several hours though I had been allowed in and saw Jasper lying on a bed covered in bandages.

"Oh Jasper!" I cried and ran over to him and kissed him

"Gently" he moaned

I completely ignored him kissing him again and again , I had never been so relieved in my entire life

"Gently!" he repeated with pain in his voice. I let go of his neck and he fell back slightly wincing as his head hit the pillows once more.

"Sorry" I apologised "I'm just so glad you're alive" If I could cry I'd be spouting fountains.

He nodded "I'm fine, well sort of" he said each word sounding strained. He was looking towards where his left arm should be, now there was just a sort of stub. Still I wasn't going to let that bother me, he was still my Jasper for better or for worse.

"I was so scared I thought I lost you" I said gripping his hand

"God I can barely remember what happened" he said still looking in pain

"I remember" I said thinking of the lion and those girls. That same hatred bubbled up inside me, threatening to overflow. I still wasn't sure what had brought it on but whatever it was it was surely justified especially now I'd nearly lost the love of my life to them.

"You got attacked by a lion" I said

He gave the smallest of nods

"Have you three got any idea how a lion did this?" he asked

I shook my head regrettably "No idea, I don't think Esme or Carlisle knows either, he's off trying to explain to the rest of the doctors here why your heartbeat isn't showing up on any of the monitors."

He glanced up to the machine next to him which was showing zero life signs. Still my man wasn't dead. He certainly looked in pain though.

"Do you know how long I'll have to stay here?" he asked

I shrugged "I suppose we should get you out of here as fast as vampiricly possible, Carlisle can only bluff them for so long"

"My wounds aren't healing, I'm damaged like a human, do you guys still even have my arm?" he asked

I thought back to it lying on the floor in a broken mess. I shook my head "No and I really don't think it'll be stitchable. Still Carlisle said that since we're looking at you as if you're human you were quite lucky"

"Matter of opinion, if I was any less lucky I'd be dead, if I was more lucky I wouldn't have just one arm" at these words he sighed "What am I going to do with one arm? I _need_ my arm"

"Not necessarily at least you're right handed. Besides loads of great people have only one arm" I said

"Yeah. Like who?" he asked

I thought for a moment "Napoleon, he was a war leader, not many people can say that"

Jasper didn't look convinced and for good reason because Napoleon actually did have two arms he just never used one of them but Jasper didn't know as much about history as the rest of us so I was hoping he'd buy it.

"And all the people in the disabled Olympics" I added

He didn't answer. I wondered if he was going to faint again.

"Maybe you could get a new arm" I suggested

He looked at me then shook his head slightly "I don't think they sell them in shops Alice"

I smiled "No, I mean like a fancy metal one like the guy from i-robot. That would be cool"

"I'd be a cyborg" he said but didn't sound too perturbed by the idea

"We've got the money and science these days is really improving" I said encouragingly praying I wasn't giving him false hope.

"Well I'll still miss my old arm" he said then gave a gasp of pain again rising up face screwed up.

"Oh Jasper" I cried as his eyes shut and he stopped moving

"He'll be fine" said a clam voice from the door and I saw Esme "He's just sleeping, Carlisle said it's normal for a human in his condition to be in and out of consciousness"

"Has Carlisle bluffed them?" I asked

"Only just, the sooner we get him out of here the better" she replied "Still I think the chances of them finding he's a vampire are fairly slim. Doctors rarely jump to such conclusions"

"Except Carlisle" I corrected

"Except Carlisle" she agreed

"Any word from Edward, Emmett and Rose?" I asked partly to find out of they were safe and partly to find out if they had murdered those two girls and their oversized cat.

She shook her head "No but one of the doctors did inform that the chiefs daughter and her sister returned home. Apparently they had people at hospital ready he was so worked up."

"And he didn't say about the others?" I asked

"They say the phone went dead when he was in mid-speech and before that his speech had been weird as if he were struggling to breathe" she said worry in her voice

I frowned wondering what had been up with him but the thought was almost instantly replaced by a far more important fact, the fact that my family were still missing while those girls were safe at home. That didn't fly with me.

I saw a brief flash of one of them packing in their home. If she thought she was leaving she was wrong very wrong.

This was their fault, _all_ their fault those stupid freaky humans fault, I'd hated them suddenly before we had started chasing them and now I had confirmed it was justified because they had done this. There had to be retribution, Edward and the others clearly hadn't succeeded in delivering it.

I stood up abruptly and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" asked Esme in surprise

"To settle a score" I replied setting my destination.


	75. Another Way To Do It

**Disclaimer: Any references to the original Twilight belong to Stephenie Meyer **

**This chapter and others that follow closely may not be good, if so it's probably because I under a lot of exam stress, I really hate exams I'm starting to agree with my sociology teacher that they are unethical. **

**Oh well back to Scorpius...**

**Spov**

I had been pacing for a long time. I didn't pace a lot, pacing usually meant thinking with me and I had a habit of acting recklessly without ever thinking about the consequences, a trait me and Will shared, it was one of the attributes that made my life fun. But I had been pacing pretty much from when I had teleported home.

Once I was back I had done a couple of seconds check to see if Anastasia and her sister were home in one piece, this wasn't really necessary my magic never went wrong if I was determined for it to go right. And I was for Anastasia's safety had become somewhat of a priority to me since she was my only friends in Forks.

I now had to face a choice, I could either take her memory or let her keep it. If I took it I would be safe but she would be different well sort of if she couldn't remember, I'd found over the years that was always the case and that would change how our friendship was working.

Maybe I could just take the elf stuff and leaved what had happened between us...no that would never work she was too curious she'd try and figure it out eventually. Plus if Kanan found out she had even the slightest suspicions he would killer faster than I could blink. Better a different friend than a dead friend.

Huh...I didn't even want to get rid of the elf stuff to be honest it had been kind of nice to show her my old country and my best friend even if he had made an awful first impression. Still I definitely had to mind wipe that, I mean that was just ridiculous travelling to a whole different continent. But I had to she had seen me doing magic beyond what I'd told her I was capable of like breaking through that elf cage, teleporting out of thin air without any aid and so forth.

I stopped next to my door and rested my hand on it shutting my eyes, yes I had to mind wipe her, it was the only responsible thing to do and I had to be responsible when it came to my secret.

I let my hand fall down as I cast a portal making the door way a portal across to Forks. I got out of the way and leaned against the wall waiting for her to come through using a compulsion to draw her towards it.

It didn't take long, in round about twenty seconds she came walking through looking around in which time I had telekinetically fixed my room up to be neat thus to avoid any other mess related disasters. I didn't think she'd seen me but after a few seconds saw her pale skin go paler and could sense and energy drain running through her. She was far away from her familiar. Huh, further than she could imagine. Such a thing didn't bother me my familiar was goodness knows where in the house.

"Hi" I said and she spun round in alarm

"Scorpius?" she said sounding both surprised and dizzy

I had to smile, she just looked so different like this, usually she was in total control of her emotions, either that or she was angry or some other form of hostile but now she looked well sort of alarmed. I raised my hand and locked the door telling she was planning on going back to her familiar, but honestly this would probably be easier without him. The memory charm I hit her with would be strong enough to make him forget too, him and her sister.

Still I found I didn't particularly like seeing her like this all drained and weak. She looked rather close to passing out to tell you the truth. I cut her and her familiar's bond like a piece of sting with my mind and she started to fall forward in a dead faint but I caught her telepathically before she hit the ground and stood her up. I sent a flood of power back into her generated by myself.

Her eyes flickered open and she steadied herself putting a hand to her head.

"What the...what..." she stammered and I smiled again at her reaction

"Nice dress" I commented, she'd changed since I teleported her. Was she going somewhere? If so who was she trying to impress?

"Where's Zarbien?" she asked

"He's safe" I assured "He's back at your home, well your sister's home"

I wondered what state he was in, I'd never much looked into familiars, not sure how he'd be without the bond intact probably worse than she had been. Oh well I'd sort that out later.

Her face spread into a glare "Sorry I should be asking where the hell _I_ am"

"Oh right you're back at my house" I said, she'd never seen this room

Her eyes narrowed "I don't really want to talk to you, just let me leave"

"In a minute" I said

She backed away a few paces "Stay away from me" she said

My eyebrows rose. Wow her opinion had really changed on me, I felt rather insulted to tell you the truth.

"Look I just need to talk to you for a second" I said pushing myself off the wall and doing a circle of the room

She didn't take her eyes off me followed as I walked around "Well good because I need to ask you some questions before I leave Forks anyway Scorpius" she said coldly

My eyebrows rose and I stopped, she was leaving Forks? That was new. I sent an invisible telepathic link to her mind and flicked through the events since she had arrived back through the portal. Huh?

"You shouldn't leave" I said shaking my head

"Oh yeah, why? I have nothing here to stay for" she said

"What about your sister?" I suggested

"She's coming with me"

"Does she want to?" I challenged

Anastasia nodded "I asked her and she chose to come with me"

"But she would have rather you both stayed in Forks" I finished

"Don't talk about Bella like you know her." She snapped "Maybe you've been fine living in Forks for all these years but I have not, I don't have this magical home to come back to after that hell hole of a school. I feel like I'm _drowning_ and no-one is even trying to help me" she said

In her eyes I could suddenly see how trapped she really felt, she reminded me of myself.

"You're going to be going to Darkhalls in a few months, leaving Forks to go and live with supernaturals could really screw up your sister's human style life long term. Couldn't you just stick at it for a little longer? For Bella"

Anastasia rolled her eyes "Don't start me on Bella. She's been nothing but frustrating since we came here, laying down rules and restrictions making everything even worse than it already is" she said putting her head in her hands "And I just can't stand it anymore I'm not like her, she can't keep doing this to me! She can't torture me just because she's my family"

"You're family are usually they're just trying to protect you because they love you" I replied

She looked up at me then turned away "What would you know about it?"

I smiled to myself "I have an older brother remember? A strict one"

"You said he was first year Darkhalls" she nodded reminiscently

That was a lie he was several years older than me and had never attended Darkhalls, she shouldn't know anything about him which brings me back to my original point, hypnosis.

"Well we can talk about all that later right now I need to-"

"-No right now I need to ask you something" she said glaring at me

Blimey she was stubborn. "Shoot"

She took a step forward "What did you do to me? That night...before. I remember a lot but then for some reason everything just went black, did you wipe my memory? Why would that happen?"

"Err..." I said

"Tell the truth" she commanded

Wow she could look fierce when she wanted to. For such a pretty girl she could get pretty scary. Well this was exactly why I had to mind wipe her to stop her asking these questions.

"And how did you break open all those elf locks?" she added

I looked into her eyes and blinked. Just mind wipe her for crying out loud it's not hard, just _do_ it.

"And how did you know we were there in the first place. How do you do all this magic. I'll bet it was you who teleported us back too, it was wasn't it? I don't know what you are Scorpius but you are _not a_ _warlock_!" she shouted

She was perfectly correct but I wasn't that used to having it shouted in my face.

Now just get rid of her memory and this will all be over, just do it. What is wrong with me? Nobody had become this determined in this area in a while, she was stepping out of her depth into seriously dangerous territory.

Still that didn't stop her. "All these things you keep doing are just wrong, you keep showing up and all these things-"

Then I cut her off in mid speech but not in the way I planned, I had planned to blank her memory and wipe her mind of all these recent events altogether; but that's not what I did, instead I leaned forward and kissed her full on the mouth.

She froze for a moment seeming shocked then pulled away looking rather alarmed.

"What...what was that?" she cried

I honestly had no idea. I often did things on impulse but I had never done that before.

"Scorpius?" she cried angrily

"Um..." I really didn't know what to say now

"Why would you kiss me?" she said voice having dropped to more of a whisper now

I looked at her and found my answer pretty easily "Because I wanted to kiss you"

"You...you what?" she said

"I wanted to kiss you" I shrugged "I often want to kiss you" This was a new realisation but I realised it was true looking back on all the times we'd been together.

She was staring at me, I considered seeing inside her head but decided against it, all my concentration was on her outward reaction, partly because I wasn't sure I would like her inward reaction and also I wanted to be ready if she tried to cast a hex on me.

"You, um you know I'm with Zeke" she said sounding as if she were telling herself this as well as me

I'd never met this Zeke but I was already forming an unjustified dislike of him. What right did he have to her? He was only an ordinary warlock.

"Does he kiss you like this?" I said and kissed her again before she could stop me

I kind of cheated then sending a little of my own magic she wouldn't sense into that kiss to make her enjoy it more, I wasn't all too sure how good a kisser I was and for that sentence to work it had to be better than this _Zeke's_. It seemed to work because after slight hesitation she started kissing me back wrapping her arms around my neck.

I was trying to furiously not to let the magic explode out of me, moments when I felt blown away often ended in me subconsciously blowing somewhere up. The last thing I wanted was to attract Kanan's attention.

I could have done this all day. She was a really really really good kisser. Granted I hadn't kissed many other girls in my life but she was easily the best. I liked the way her hands kept running through my ponytail, the way she didn't kiss gently but strongly, passionately. If she knew who I was...

That thought was knocked out of my head as she pulled away and pushed me in the stomach backwards. I tripped on the edge of my bed and fell flat on my back on it. Next thing I could see she was lying over dark hair hanging like a veil round her face.

I laughed and reached up kissing her again then grabbed her elbows and flipped over so she was on her back and I was looking down on her. When I had made that portal so she could come here this had honestly been one of the last things I expected the visit would result in. Still I wasn't complaining.

I reached back with one hand and found the end of her dress and pulled it up and over her head (little magic aid).

"Thought you liked that dress" she said shrugging it over her arms

"I do" I grinned "I love it"

Her eyes flashed and I felt my shirt tear down the front. I raised an eyebrow.

"Never liked that shirt" she said shaking her head disapprovingly

I actually laughed then, couldn't help it.

She looked down at herself then shook her head "I don't have my talisman"

I didn't bother to ask where she left it since when I'd seen her she'd always kept it round her neck instead just reached into my pocket and pulled out one I made materialize from thin air "Are you sure?"

She took it in her fingers and looked up at me "If I do this, I'm really going to regret it in the morning"

"Then regret it in the morning" I said

She smiled then slung it around her neck and kissed me again.

I reached behind her back and frowned "Can't-find the-stupid-clasp"

"Hasn't gone one" she said and pulled it over her head. Huh, sneaky.

Looking down at her I was desperately hoping I wasn't blushing, when I blushed it clashed horribly with my pale skin and absolute white hair.

I kicked off my trousers and shirt. For some reason it didn't feel weird being like this around her more just...exiting. I'd been like this once with Dalila but honestly she had just sort of been an experiment to see if I could get away with it without Kanan finding out which I did until a few days ago.

"God" she moaned as I kissed her neck and I smiled inwardly "Scorpius...what...what are you?"

I turned my head and whispered in her ear "If I told you that, I'd have to kill you"

Then I decided, what the hell, just for tonight lets just screw all the stupid rules designed to keep us apart, tonight could just be for us, after all I brought her here to blow her mind this was just another way to do it...


	76. A Delayed Rescue

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Zarbien **

**Bpov**

"Anastasia!" I cried running down the stairs "Anastasia where are you?"

I reached the floor and ran to the living room where she was most likely to be. But she wasn't there, instead I saw Charlie lying slumped against the wall eyes closed, twitching slightly, he looked a mess a purplish rash spreading across his face. I knew this was my sister's work instantly, she was clearly hadn't taken his rant well. Still he would be fine eventually. Right now I needed to know what was wrong with Zarbien, Anastasia would never hurt him.

She'd clearly been in here, all her things were packed ready to leave but she was nowhere to be seen. I went into the kitchen which was also empty unless you count a lot of mangled fish remains.

"Anastasia! Anastasia where are you?" I screamed uselessly

Had someone taken her, something? She'd given no warning, all her stuff was still here and she wouldn't leave without me and Zarbien that much I knew. I decided to look outside and headed for the hall door. I rattled the handle but it wouldn't open. It was locked. Weirdest thing was this door didn't even have a lock.

"Anastasia, Anastasia open this door! Right now!" I yelled banging on it with my fist. "_Anastasia!_" I kicked the door a few times furiously hurting my foot quite badly.

Where the hell was she and what was she doing?

Her familiar was...well I don't know in some kind of serious trouble. She should be here. Clearly she was tangled up in something she couldn't get out of. Still I didn't know how to deal with this, I barely knew anything about familiars and even if I did I was pretty sure I'd need magic to work a solution.

With a breath of frustration I ran back upstairs into my room where Zarbien was still lying on the floor unmoving limp as a rag doll. I put my hand on him but once again it floated straight through although he were a ghost or illusion. I refused to think he was a ghost, ghosts meant death and nothing had hurt Anastasia I wouldn't even allow myself to think that.

It took _extreme_ power to kill a familiar much more than their other half. The only easy way to kill a familiar was to kill their other half at least I think that's right. But Anastasia wasn't hurt and Zarbien definitely wasn't dead, he was right in front of me.

"Zarbien what's wrong with you? You're not dead, you can't be dead" I said to myself forcing myself to believe it.

"But he will be soon" said another voice "And so will you"

I spun round not sure who I was expecting. Whoever it was they were setting my supernatural danger alarm ringing like there was no tomorrow. Who I did see was a girl, the vampire girl. I knew her name it was Alice I think, Edward's sister. She was a bit smaller than me with short black hair and a beautiful face that looked ready to kill.

I jumped up and started slowly backing against the wall. She must have come in through the window. Anastasia clearly hadn't placed the protection around the house once we had returned.

"Alice...Alice what are you doing?" I asked knowing exactly what she was doing

"Oh you are going to pay you are going to really pay" she said shaking her head slowly

If I could just reach the door. As long as she didn't run at me if I just moved slowly enough then maybe...

"What exactly would I be paying for?" I asked "Trust me if you go home you will find Edward and your other siblings perfectly safe, I swear, they're not hurt"

I didn't know if that was strictly true, I hoped it was, but I just needed it to buy me time.

"I want you to pay for Jasper!" she yelled

Jasper...? Jasper...? Oh that other vampire, the one Zarbien had lunged at when he attacked the car and judging by her reaction probably killed.

"Look Alice what happened with your brother was an accident. This is going to sound crazy but back then you were all under the influence of a loathing potion, you still are that's what's making you say these things-"

"Jasper isn't my brother!" she shouted "Jasper is my husband"

Oh great. I don't think any amount of explaining would stop a heart broken type-two vampire under the influence of one of Anastasia's magic potions ripping me to shreds.

"Look Alice please...you do want to do this, if you could see yourself you would stop, if you were in your right mind-" I pleaded

"You know what Bella," she interrupted "I think I'm gonna enjoy this"

I turned to run at the door behind me but in a flash she was in front of it smiling like something out of a horror movie only this was so much more real.

God, Anastasia and Zarbien were the only two creatures in the world who could save me now and Zarbien was unconscious and eerily disappearing and as for Anastasia, well it looked like for once she wasn't coming to my rescue. No-one was going to help me, I was going to die...

Then Alice lunged at me savagely moving so fast I didn't have time to shut my eyes in fear.

In that moment I heard two things one was a voice shouting "NOOOOOO!" the second was a second body slamming into the upcoming Alice smashing her sideways taking her straight through the wall.

I gave a scream jumping backwards. What the hell was that?

The concrete of the wall had gone down like cardboard and through the broken wall I could make out the figure of a furious Alice and also Edward Cullen...

My jaw fell open as I stared at him he was on the ground his shirt torn concrete and dust sprinkled in his bronze-coloured hair.

Alice jumped up and tried to head back towards me (I backed up against the other wall) but Edward grabbed her from behind and pulled her to the ground. "Alice stop it! Stop it!"

"GET OFF ME!" she screamed lashing out at him wildly

"Why are you doing this?" he yelled as she threw him off her against the wall

"She has to die she almost killed Jasper!" Alice retorted

Almost? Only _almost_? Was there another vampire out there thirsting for my blood too?

"Alice think about what you're doing" he said getting up

The look on her face said she was done thinking and I found myself sliding down the wall in fear staring at the scene before me.

"I won't let you do this" Edward warned

Alice didn't even answer just dived at me. Edward had crashed into her again before I could let out a full scream and they were instantly diving around my room wildly punching and scratching and biting each other like animals. Pretty soon my wardrobe and desk were in splinters and more of my walls concrete cracked.

Eventually after much blood and destruction and screams of anger Edward dropped Alice to the floor. Then dusty and hurt Edward looked at me "Are you alright?" he asked

"Is she...dead?" I whispered staring at her body

Edward shook her head "Can't kill us that easy"

That thought didn't comfort me. I looked at her unconscious body and then I burst into tears I just couldn't help it, I'd been so scared. She could have killed me, she would have...

Edward pulled me to my feet and held me against his shoulder as I sobbed noisily. I could feel embarrassed about it later, right now I was just glad I was alive, still hardly able to believe it.

"It's okay" he said stroking my hair "It's okay"

"You...you saved me" I sobbed

He nodded "I guess we're even"

I was inwardly surprised. I didn't think he'd understood I'd saved him before by bargaining with that necromancer. Technically I was responsible he got killed in the first place so we weren't really even still I wasn't in the mood to get into an argument.

I looked into his eyes and smiled then reached forward and kissed him. He took a moment to respond. It couldn't have been a weirder time to kiss someone but I couldn't help it. Besides my life was nothing but weird, I was currently kissing a vampire for God's sake, I could only imagine Anastasia's reaction if she were watching this. _Anastasia!_

I jerked away. "Anastasia" I said to him voice going very high pitched

He looked surprised at this and I didn't really blame him you don't usually kiss someone for the first time then suddenly break away and exclaim your younger sister's name very loudly.

I needed to get through to him what I meant "She was in the house but now she's gone. Do you think...do you think Alice got her...?"

My blood was running cold. If she had killed Anastasia...I didn't know what I'd do. No she couldn't have, Anastasia could kill Alice in a second now she had her magic back...couldn't she...?

Edward looked round as if he were going to find her in the room. His eyes rested on Zarbien. I didn't spare any time to explain and instead ran down the stairs again calling him after me. I may not be able to break open but a locked door but he certainly could.

In minutes I was in the hall Edward next to me.

"Break the door down" I ordered

"But why-"

"Just break the door down" I cried

He gave it a kick and it flew straight off its hinges. But all I saw behind it was the hall, with its coats and shoes. Damn! I ran outside through the front door into the cold night air, I couldn't see her or anything or anyone else, just the odd fairy fluttering around sprinkling some dust in the trees. I just stood there staring and felt tears running down my face. I started shaking from anxiety or the cold I did not know.

"What are you going to do?" Edward asked clearly nervous at my reaction

I looked at him then back at the road "I'm going to stay here and wait for my sister"

**This chapter was specially for all those who were disappointed that Edward didn't save Bella in Port-Angeles. A delayed rescue. **


	77. Goodbye Gift

**Disclaimer: Any references to the original Twilight belong to Stephenie Meyer **

**I have a bio exam tomorrow and two more this week please wish me luck I'll need all the help I can get **

**Apov **

I was woken to the feel of light against my eyelids. I blinked my eyes a couple of times letting my eyes adjust and found myself looking up at the ceiling of Scorpius's room. The light wasn't coming from a window – this room didn't have any – it was coming from the ceiling which appeared to be made of some kind of tainted glass.

I smiled looking up at it and turned over on his bed "Scorpius?"

He wasn't there and I sat up on my elbows "Scorpius?" I said louder, no reply.

I felt something crunch slightly in my hand as I sat up. I looked and saw a letter and a tiny parcel with a note attached. I frowned down at them and sat up properly to look at them, the letter had my name on it. I ran a finger lightly over the letter which tore in a neat magical line (I found ripping open letters was too annoying). I pulled a letter out, it read

_To Anastasia, _

_Hey, I'm writing this because I'll probably be gone by the time you wake up. _

_Tomorrow is my seventeenth birthday and today I have to travel with Will to Darkhalls. _

_Thank you for a truly amazing night. If you're being hit with that regret you mentioned yesterday then my apologies. _

_Don't worry I've fixed the connection with your familiar you'll be fine as soon as you return to your sister's home. _

_I'm still hoping that for your sister's sake you stay in Forks. Don't get me wrong I know what a hell hole it is and honestly I don't think I've ever even spoken to your sister however I do know from my own experience that older siblings are often right about ways to keep you safe and the right thing to do. _

_You can feel free to keep that talisman you used from before I won't be returning home for a while. I will see you at Darkhalls when you're seventeen. _

_Oh this is important, _don't_ spread around that I am not a warlock. In fact it would probably be better not to mention me to anyone for both our sakes, just let Forks forget I ever existed. _

_Hope you like my gift. I feel like I owe you something and it might help persuade you to stay in Forks. _

_Scorpius _

_P.S. I got rid of all the fairies _

I put down the letter and picked up the little parcel. A gift? I looked at the note attached

'_These are yours now. So you can see your friends easier'_ was all it said. I opened it and tipped it contents into my palm. My mouth fell open as a few tiny gold spheres fell into my hands. I recognised them instantly, they were the _Sarlanta_ beads Scorpius had owned before, I could tell by the tiny magical runes carved into their edges. The magic radiating off them blew my dark hair back slightly.

I couldn't believe it. Sarlanta beads weren't something you just handed over as a thank you present. They were a really kingly gift. They were the product of magicians who were virtually extinct. I was struck by a thought, could Scorpius be a magician? It would explain the very strong magic, but then before when he had first shown me the beads he had specifically told me he wasn't a magician...

Whatever he was he had just offered me something worth more than my life a hundred times over.

I looked at back at the letter. _I feel like I owe you something_ hmm...I wondered if that was really how he had looked upon it, what tense he was using when he wrote that... If that was why he brought me here in the first place? After all he had been the one to kiss me first? He was a really really good kisser.

Well if he had looked at it as some kind of one night stand then I had definitely been well paid for it. These magician beads could sell for an amazing amount. They really weren't the kind of thing you tossed away for one night...Blimey that sounded pretty slutty thinking that, that wasn't really the way I looked at myself...

_If you're being hit with that regret you mentioned yesterday then my apologies_. Yet as I thought about it, I wasn't really feeling any regret, that was weird. I had been sure I was going to feel awful and really mad at both Scorpius and myself but honestly I just felt really...elated, sort of happy.

_Don't worry I've fixed the connection with your familiar you'll be fine as soon as you return to your sister's home. _

What had he done to Zarbien? In fact that was a good question presuming I was in the same house I had came to before then I was a very very very long way from Zarbien my magic should be seriously low via this point but I didn't feel drained, at least not anymore.

_I'm hoping that for your sister's sake you stay in Forks. Don't get me wrong I know what a hell hole it is and honestly I don't think I've ever even spoken to your sister however I do know from my own experience that older siblings are often right about ways to keep you safe and the right thing to do. Take it from someone who knows. _

I wondered what his brother was like. I guess he must have been the one to make him stay in Forks. I wouldn't say what Bella was attempting to do was 'keep me safe', more keep mom's new rubberheaded husband Phil safe. I wonder what Scorpius needed protecting from? Still he was right that leaving might screw up Bella's human life.

..._it might help persuade you to stay in Forks. _

Now those beads were one hell of a bribe. I suppose I could stay in Forks for just a few more months, it wouldn't kill me and besides now I had easy access to travel all over the place whenever I wanted.

I saw my clothes at the end of the bed and grabbed them keeping the talisman as Scorpius had generously offered since I had given my last one to a necromancer. Once I was changed I went over and held the beads in one hand. Now they were mine they would go where I wanted them to. I closed my eyes and thought of Bella's home hoping they would work properly and not send me somewhere random.

I took one last look around Scorpius's magical house and then threw them up in the air and saw them start swirling around me in a whirl of gold until it was all I could see, when it cleared I was back at Bella's house and they fell neatly back into my hand.

For a second I felt the urge to smile but then I took the room into more details and my eyes widened in alarm. It was Bella's bedroom but all the furniture in her room was well pretty smashed up wood splinters everywhere dust askew the floor, it looked like a baby troll had been let loose in it. One of the walls had a human sized hole through it leading to the next room concrete chunks everywhere.

I turned around looking at the whole room and my eyes dropped to the floor where I saw an unconscious type two vampire. I recognised her she was one of the ones that had taken the potion I made and now that I remembered she was the only one who hadn't been unconscious since so she'd be the only one who had still been experiencing the effects of the potion. Assumedly in her magically driven hated she'd come here looking for me and Bella...

Bella...

Oh _SHIT_!


	78. Questions, Lies and Future Plans

**One last sociology A-level left then I'm free talk about a relief. Still gotta revise more than write. **

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Zarbien and Scorpius**

**Apov**

"Bella!" I shouted running through the newly created human-sized hole in the wall "Bella!"

The whole room was trashed and there was blood on the floor. Oh no please no.

I ran back through the doors and down the stairs "Bella!" I yelled praying to all my God's for any response. She couldn't be dead she just couldn't be dead, I refused to think she was dead, she was my sister she just couldn't be...

"Bella" I yelled desperately several more times receiving nothing but silence then just slumped against a wall shutting my eyes cursing in my head

"Anastasia?" a voice said and Bella walked through the door next to me dusty but definitely alive.

I stared at her for a moment stunned then smacked her across the face with the back of my hand.

"Oww" protested Bella clutching her cheek which was turning steadily red "What was that for?"

"Don't you ever scare me like that again" I snarled furiously

"Is she here?" another voice said and that vampire Edward walked through the door.

My eyes narrowed and I raised an arm and he flew backwards with a yell and was pinned against the wall legs about six feet off the ground.

"Anastasia" Bella said "Stop it"

"What is he doing in this house?" I demanded

"Anastasia just let him down he's just _visiting_ the house"

"Looks to me like he just smashed up the house" I said coldly.

My arm was still held up keeping him levitated from a distance and I tightened my fingers, this wasn't to suffocate him because of course vampires do not need oxygen (well not his kind anyway), no I was sending magically generated heat through his body which would burn his insides up.

He let out a groan and a choking sound

"Anastasia stop it please" she said running over to him

"Did he attack you?" I demanded "Did he hurt you?"

If he had I would kill him no questions asked.

"He saved me" she cried

I looked at her "He did what now?"

"He saved me" she repeated "His _sister_ attacked me and he saved me from her"

"His sister?" I said thinking of the vampire unconscious upstairs

"Anastasia you're killing him!" she cried sounding next to hysterical

"What?" I said "Oh right" I let my hand drop and Edward fell a good six feet down to the floor some steam literally coming from his ears.

Bella fell to his side on her knees touching his forehead frantically and I felt an urge to roll my eyes. I thought of the vampire girl and turned to go back up the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Bella asked

"To sort out that vampire girl, don't worry the boy will be fine he just needs to cool down" I assured

"No" Bella shouted

I wondered once again why Bella always felt the need to shout. Did she not grasp that I have better hearing than her? Her shouting always just made my ears hurt.

"What?" I asked

"Don't kill her" she repeated

"Why?" I had to admit I was getting quite annoyed now. I did not like being ordered around by Bella.

"She wasn't in her right mind, can't you just hypnotise her or something?" Bella asked

"That loathing spell will have worn off now she's unconscious. She'd have woken up already if that potion wasn't busy ebbing out of her system. Type-two vampires have good healing but the magic working it way out." I shrugged

"Then why do you have to kill her?"

I thought about it "Well she'd probably still pretty upset about her boyfriend, Zarbien took a bite out of him, maybe she'd just attack you anyway, plus she just destroyed the upstairs of this house, now I'm not saying that's a bad thing but it is currently our place of residence"

I still wished it wasn't.

"Anastasia please don't she's Edward's sister, yes she attacked me and I don't like her anymore than you do but she didn't mean to do it plus you can fix upstairs with a click of your fingers"

I personally wouldn't class returning the upstairs of this house to its original state as _fixing_ it but I could see her point.

"All right. Where's Zarbien?" I asked

"Oh" she said eyes widening "Yes there's something wrong with him, he collapsed I don't know why but he did. And then sometimes my hand kept going _through_ him and I mean literally through him like he were a ghost, it took me ages but eventually I managed to drag him into the coat closet"

I raised an eyebrow "Why would you put Zarbien in a coat closet?"

"In case Charlie woke up and saw him. He's still in lion form. He wouldn't wake up so I couldn't get him to change"

Her idiot father wouldn't be better until I made him better but what the hell?

I guess this was what Scorpius meant about Zarbien. Something serious must have happened to our bond for Zarbien to start dematerializing, something I'm pretty sure Scorpius did. Still until I figured out what Scorpius was I really wouldn't know. I made a mental note to find out once I attended Darkhalls.

I started to head back upstairs to find Zarbien and Bella started legging it after me. Probably to make sure I wasn't going for the vampire girl anyway. I went over to the coat closet and saw Zarbien, he was asleep but I could feel our bond was back and he'd be back to normal in no time. Usually Zarbien and I fell asleep at the same time but not when either of us were made unconscious. I knelt down to get a better look at him when Bella started nattering in my ear.

"Where did you go?" she asked

My God did that girl ever shut up? Questions questions questions why was I always under interrogation?

"We've been waiting almost three hours for you to come back" she said

"Good" I said absentmindedly "Always wait three hours"

"Where were you? I was nearly killed and you weren't here" there was definite accusation in her voice

I turned my head in her direction expression cold "Sorry I didn't realise I was your personal bodyguard"

She flushed slightly

I sighed "I ended up teleporting away to see those friends we were going to go and stay with and check whether we could stay with them. Leaving made mine and Zarbien's bond weaker that's what caused him to faint. I made the mistake of not bringing him with me"

This was a total lie but I knew Bella would buy it. She was so gullible.

"Right" she nodded pretending to understand "I didn't know you could teleport"

"I can't but I recently came into possession of these" I said and held out the magician beads for her to see.

"Marbles?" she said

"There _Sarlanta_ beads" I said exasperated "They're really rare"

"When did you get them?" she asked

I paused for a minute I was not going to tell her the truth "My father sent them," I said stiffly "I guess he realised how cut off I would be out here."

"Oh right," she said "That was kind."

Huh, she clearly didn't know my father. He'd never done a kind thing in his life, still I didn't like to talk about him hence why Bella knowledge of him spanned to the fact that he was a powerful dangerous warlock. Thankfully at that moment Zarbien stirred

_Oh you're alright_ I thought immense relief washing over me for the second time in less than ten minutes

_What...what happened?_ He replied opening his eyes wearily

I replayed the scene in my mind. I never kept anything from Zarbien partly because he was my other half and partly because the minute I thought back to them he would see them anyway. He certainly seemed surprised at the scene, I didn't blame him I was pretty surprised myself.

_Do you think he cast a spell on you?_ He asked

_I don't think so_ I replied

_When he kissed you he could have sent magic through to you?_ Zarbien suggested _That's what Sebastian did_

I thought back to two years ago with Sebastian, yeah he had cast spell on me which made me go further than I wanted too. I figured it out later on and ditched him because of that. Stupid slippery snake.

I brought my thoughts back to Scorpius, maybe he did but why would he give me the beads then?

_To apologize_ Zarbien said _Maybe he felt guilty_

_Maybe..._I thought still unsure

"Can I ask you something?" Bella said interrupting our conversation

"Do you have to?" I said flatly

"When you were calling my name, trying to find me, were you really upset, you sounded distressed?" she asked a smile playing across her face

"I was frustrated" I said simply

"You were scared for me" she smiled "You really were, you do have a soft side"

"You're gonna be seeing my tough side if you keep asking me stupid questions" I warned cracking my knuckles

She just smiled sickeningly and ran back to her vampire friend. I rolled my eyes, she wasn't going to let this go easy. I guess I needed to keep better control over my emotions.

_So are we really going to stay here?_ Asked Zarbien

I hesitated then nodded _Yes but in exchange Bella's never going to speak about my outburst again _

He nodded _Good compromise_

We went downstairs to where Bella and the vampire were sitting

"Bella we need to talk. You" I said pointing at Edward "Get your sister and get out"

Edward looked at Bella who seemed to see my big red flag going up and nodded "Go Edward please"

With what looked like great reluctance he headed up the stairs to get his sister. I ignored him and turned to Bella.

"You appeared to have completely forgotten that we were to both move far far away from this place" I said

Her nervous face fell to one of immense sadness her eyes went rather watery "Yes, I'm sorry, I got kinda distracted"

I would accept being nearly killed by a type-two vampire as a valid excuse. Still I thought crying was an over-reaction. Yet Bella cried all the time.

"Well Bella I'll make you a deal, you never speak about me 'being scared for you' again" I said with great scathing "And we can stay here till I go to Darkhalls"

Bella's face suddenly lit with both amazement and an angelic joy. She looked impossibly happy

"Oh thank you thank you thank you" she cried and jumped at me pulling me into a hug

I stiffened in alarm and extreme discomfort and she let go pretty hastily

"Sorry" she mumbled but her voice still sounded aloft with happiness.

"Hmm" I said still half wishing I'd decided to leave anyway

"What made you change your mind?" she asked joyously

More lies.

"The friends I went to see were all really busy it would have just been trouble for them to have two new roommates" I shrugged and she seemed to accept "Plus they would love to have me stay but some of them dislike humans and I don't think you'd return from their home in the same state" I added wickedly just to see the look it brought to her face

At that point Edward came down holding his unconscious sister in his arms. Zarbien growled at him and Edward regarded him warily.

"Get out" I said voice as cold as ice and hard as steel

Edward looked at Bella "I'll see you back at school" she said

He nodded then headed out the door

"And so will I" I added

Bella looked at me

"Oh please you can't possibly expect me to let you date him without running him through some tests. You know my system" I said with a sly grin

Her mouth fell open "You're gonna let me date him?" she sounded amazed

"He seems like a jerk to me and if we were here long term I wouldn't even think about it however once I go to Darkhalls I won't have a say in what's going on back here so until then I'll just give him some tests" I said rubbing my hands together

"You don't mean like...like the tests you did with Phil" she said sounding worried

I shook my head "No of course not like those"

She let out a sigh of relief and I smiled

"Those were tests designed for a human, my _vampire_ tests are going to be much more entertaining"

Bella went pale and I laughed.

"Things could be a lot worse Bella" I said

She didn't reply and I headed upstairs to magically repair the damage done upstairs.

"Hey at least you didn't tell mom we were planning on moving can you imagine the state that would have got her into?" I said imagining our erratic mother's response

"Oh that..." Bella said trailing off

I turned around "You didn't?"

She gave a guilty smile and I shut my eyes in exasperation.

Brilliant.

**Hope you like that hastily written chapter, I think we might be nearing the end…**


	79. Storm Clouds Ahead

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Zarbien **

**Bpov**

It had been almost exactly two weeks since Anastasia gave me permission to date Edward. They had been the weirdest and some of the best days of my life. I never believed I would fall in love with anything mythical, well to be honest I'd never put that much thought as to being in love at all.

Still it was a great feeling. I had been almost scared dating a vampire, walking around with him at school, trying to accept that I was actually in a relationship with someone who looked like a runaway model.

I wondered if this was how Anastasia felt with Zeke. I guess I could understand now how she missed him so much. However this still didn't improve my opinion of him.

Edward had decided to get to know me by asking me hundreds of questions at first. However once Anastasia had found out he was doing this she gave him a firm talking to telling him to keep his nose out of our business. She was still un-keen of the idea of a type-two vampire knowing too much of magic.

Still that didn't matter too much we had done other stuff instead like seeing his vampire family only this time they weren't trying to kill me. I was still pretty scared going to see them because of my built of fear of supernaturals in general. But Edward wanted me to get to know them a bit.

Anastasia refused to let me go to their house without her in case they 'tried anything' as she put it. This had limited my number of trips to their house as an unfortunately low _once_ since she didn't like it and found it a waste of time.

As for getting to know them, well Edward and had told me their vague histories as humans then vampires because I had been too nervous to ask them much themselves. All the other vampires seemed to have mixed emotions towards me. Jasper still seemed a mixture between hostile and nervous, I didn't blame him after his accident. Rosalie seemed hostile too but I think it was for a different reason I wasn't fully aware of. Alice seemed constantly embarrassed which was understandable still i felt that with some work I might be able to form a friendship with her. The others seemed relatively comfortable around me but they were all very wary around Anastasia and since I was accompanied by her that was the main emotion I got from them.

Anastasia had already started devising ways to test Edward, it was enough to make me very very nervous. She had already tried two. The first had involved setting a magical fire around him and seeing if he could get out of it without burning to death which he did by a hair's breath the second was injecting him with a magical toxin which made him loose most of his senses and find suicide very appealing, this test was to see if he could survive a full day without completely losing his will to live. Thankfully he had survived both these tests.

At first I had wondered why Anastasia was taking it so easy on him but it didn't take long to figure out. She was spending less and less time in Forks, she and Zarbien just kept disappearing with those new beads of hers returning later on from whatever supernatural place she'd ever spent the day. It was better for Edward I supposed but it kind of concerned me after all she was my sister and when she was away I felt kind of vulnerable.

Today Edward and I had been talking while Anastasia sort of supervised reading her magic book Zarbien lying at her ankles. She didn't bother to do this much but today she had followed on and I had the feeling she was plotting Edward's next test.

"Look at that" Edward said sounding awed

I looked and saw beside a rock a tiny wood nymph was crawling across the floor. I smiled to myself loving his expression.

"I'm never going to get used to this" he smiled shaking his head

He'd only just started seeing the supernatural world, it felt weird not being able to explain some magic things to someone, it had always been Anastasia to me.

I saw Anastasia roll her eyes at his reaction. She could see supernaturals better than both Edward and I could (although with practise and teaching Edward being a vampire supernatural himself could perhaps reach her level of sight yet she was unlikely to let that happen).

I personally was a little pleased at his reaction, I was worried he'd be terrified of the supernatural, worse than me perhaps and that it would split us apart but thankfully it didn't because he wasn't. He just seemed sort of stunned. It had sort of made me feel a little bad, was this how I should react? I was always pretty wary of these things. If that nymph came too close I would draw my feet and arms away for fear of it biting me (in my defence it had happened before).

After a while to my surprise Edward's brother Jasper and sister Alice came into view. They couldn't see the nymph of course Edward had decided to keep quiet about the full extent of the supernatural world despite their billion questions. He'd told them that Anastasia was a witch and Zarbien was a familiar that was – to their obvious irritation – the extent of their knowledge.

I was surprised they had come to us because through embarrassment and dislike they had been avoiding me and Anastasia as much as possible recently.

My gaze flicked to Anastasia who was looking at them from over the top of her book. I couldn't help but notice that Alice and Jasper were standing as far away from her as possible.

"Hey" said Edward

"Hey" replied Jasper his voice suggesting he was uncomfortable (also his eyes flicking to Zarbien who had stood up stretching his legs) "Alice says there's going to be a real storm tonight and Emmett wants to play ball. Are you game?"

The words were common enough but there was something definitely unusual in the context. I had learnt from Edward though that Alice was better than any weatherman and from Anastasia that her personal magical presence would distort Alice's visions.

Edward's eyes lit up, but he hesitated "Can I bring Bella?"

There was a pause which went on just too long for it to be considered polite then Alice said "Sure"

"Do you want to go?" Jasper said swiftly and I got the feeling he didn't want me to go so Anastasia wouldn't come. According to Edward Jasper had some kind of power which related to emotions like sense what they are. Looking at him now I wished I had that power, I wanted to know what was going on behind those golden eyes.

I wondered if I could just come up with an excuse to leave them to it. They'd probably be happier without me plus Anastasia hated human sports. Yet one look at Edward's exited face and I found myself saying "Sure"

"Will you be able to play" Edward said to Jasper "I mean what with..." he nodded vaguely in the direction of Jasper's arm

Jasper looked down sourly, the topic of his arm had been scarcely mentioned since the accident, it was fully healed but it was clearly still causing him problems. I was going to ask but I could assume hunting problems was on the list too.

Alice spoke quickly "We decided he could be the ref, after all you always cheat" she added a wicked smile on the end to lighten the mood

"So you coming?" Jasper repeated to me as if hoping I would have changed my mind

"Yeah um I mean Anastasia can we go?"

I knew she wouldn't be comfortable with me being around all the vampires at once without her, I wasn't even sure if I'd be comfortable with them myself especially if they started getting competitive. But I also knew Anastasia found such games extremely tedious.

She seemed to pause then after a glance at Zarbien (and almost certainly some telekinetic talk) she actually smiled "Sure" she said in a voice about as trusting as pure poison. That smile on her face...

"Will I need an umbrella?" I asked dragging my eyes away

The three vampires laughed out loud

"Will she?" Jasper asked Alice

"No" she sounded positive "The storm will hit over town. It should be dry enough in the clearing"

"Good, then" Jasper said regaining some of his enthusiasm

"Let's go see if Carlisle will come" Alice bounded up to the door in a fashion that would break any ballerina's heart.

"Where will we be playing?" I asked

"_You_ will be watching" Edward clarified "We will be playing baseball"

I stared at him "Vampires play baseball?" It sounded ludicrous

"It's the American pastime" he said with mock solemnity

"We won't be playing it till later we have to wait for thunder, you'll see why. Is later okay for you?" he added in the direction of Anastasia

She smiled that unnerving smile again that made her eyes flash. "Later is perfect. I need to make a brief rip out of town anyway but I assure you I'll be back for the game"


	80. Bye Bye Butterfly

**This is a much longer chapter than the others. I feel the need to write more right now since I've been going through a rough patch. **

**Disclaimer: Any references to the original Twilight belong to Stephenie Meyer **

**Apov**

The blur of gold spinning faded and I smiled looking at the sky where the sun was blaring. I let the golden beads fall into my hands. The sight of just the sun was proof enough that we were no longer in Forks. I smiled at Zarbien putting the beads in my pocket as we started to walk onwards. I had someone I had to visit before this little ball game with the vampires and Phoenix was just the place to find them.

The person in question lived as I did – in a human dwelling with human relatives – so she wasn't hard to find. Zarbien and I passed a few roads and bustling shops whilst Zarbien remained in cat form constantly complaining about the traffic.

I got a few unusual glances but I wasn't new to that. People in sunny happy Phoenix often looked sideways at a girl dressed in all black with a sour expression and a creepy intelligent cat at her heels. Still I supposed they just put me down as a Goth or what not.

I travelled down a number of streets until I reached a large block of apartments. They were dull grey and very high. I headed up to hers, it was the highest in the building which meant she could go to the roof whenever she wanted, even if I didn't know where it was already I could feel the magic vibration against her door and couldn't help but smile to myself.

The building itself had no elevator which had always annoyed me and I decided to just use the beads again, I wasn't in the mood to climb all those stairs.

I appeared in front of the door and knocked a couple of times, then heard a crash and a yelp from inside. The door swung open with a boy around my age clinging to the doorknob for what looked like support more than anything else. He looked as if he'd just crawled out of bed.

There was a pause where he just stared at me then a smile lit up his face and he stumbled up on two feet.

"Anastasia" he grinned

"Hello Collin" I said unenthusiastically. I had been hoping he wouldn't be the one to answer the door.

"Come in, come in" he said and jumped out the way

I stepped into his house and couldn't help but feel repulsed. Not because it was bright and human and dull like Bella's father's but because there was about two weeks worth of stinking rubbish littered on the floor. Nothing was in place there it was just a total tip, I could barely believe someone could live like this, suddenly my prison in Forks didn't seem quite as horrible.

"So why are you here? Do you want anything? I can make you something?" he stammered running his hands through his hair in a fool's attempt to make it look better.

I shook my head "I'm just here to see your sister"

His eyes widened "Cassandra, oh of course she's not here, she'll be back in a minute but she just went out"

"Oh" I said disappointed

"Sit down" he said indicating a grimy looking sofa.

I debated whether to sit down or not, the sofa looked like it may well have some form of fungus but in the end he went and sat down himself grabbing my hand on the way so I was jerked sideways and pulled onto it anyway.

I pulled my wrist out of his grasp pretty sure he hadn't washed his sweaty hands in weeks if not months.

"So how are you?" he asked smiling

He looked goofy smiling like that. Collin was tall and gangly, really thin and extremely untidy. He was about as clumsy as Bella and had no sense of personal hygiene. I had half a mind to cover my nose at the smell of him. Zarbien was certainly keeping his distance

"I'm fine" I said emotionlessly

He nodded "Me too. Not much has gone on here, sis has been doing some weird and wonderful stuff but hey that's what you enchantresses do eh?"

I smiled. Collin had been mine and his sister's psychological experiment. The experiment had been whether we could get a human – Collin – to successfully fall in love with a witch just because he believed she was an enchantress aka power of suggestion no magic involved. It had worked although some of our friends thought that was just because he thought I was good looking. Either way it was clear humans were gullible in that department.

"I hear you don't live in Phoenix anymore?" he said kicking some mud off his oversized boots onto the floor. "I noticed you're not at school anymore"

Well there's one positive about choosing to remain in Forks I wouldn't have Collin staring at me anymore "No me and my sister moved to live with her father, you know since we got a poltergeist."

"A poltergeist? We got one of those" he said nodding

I looked around, that explained it.

"Did some damage. Must have had a wild one" I said looking around at the room which made up pretty much the whole apartment.

"It was two years ago" he said

"Oh" I said flatly

He shrugged clearly unperturbed and I saw him straightening his clothes which looked like suitable material for scrubbing floors.

"So are you still with this Zeke?" he asked trying to keep his voice casual

I had to fight desperately not to roll my eyes. Honestly.

"Yes" I nodded "And I'll be going to Darkhalls in august to be there with him"

"Oh" he said definite disappointment in his voice

Collin would be more disappointed if he realised I would almost definitely never see him again after I went to Darkhalls. Possibly not even after today, my concentration was on the smell that was radiating off him.

I could not have been more relieved when his half-sister Cassandra walked through the door. She was very tall like Collin and also thin too which I'm not sure was such a blessing in all areas. I think she was naturally blonde but currently she had purple hair that was almost as long as mine (she changed it all the time, for as long as I could remember had it been the same colour for more than four days). She jumped at the sight of me.

"Oh Anastasia" she said sounding a little startled

"Hey Cassandra" I said in a fairly emotionless voice

She paused for a minute then broke her face into a smile "Hey it's great to see you, I thought you'd left?"

"I have I'm just visiting" I said

Zarbien was nudging my legs almost knocking me over in attempt to see past me and Cassandra. It didn't take long for him to spot what he was looking for. Resting on Cassandra's head within her hair was a tiny butterfly. It had amazing colours upon it and after a few moments beat its wings and flew into the air transforming to its natural size which was about the size of a large dinner plate.

I could sense excitement running through my bond from Zarbien. There was something about that butterfly that made him go weird.

Zarbien posed in a playful pouncing position and then Clarella – as she was called – started to fly away in the direction of one of the bedrooms.

_Stop! Stop! Stop!_ Zarbien yelped and began chasing after Clarella snapping up at her

I rolled my eyes. Zarbien acted in pretty much all senses like an intelligent magical creature of about my age if not older. He was smarter than any human and well kind of like me in personality, not really the cuddly kitten type of animal..._except_ when Cassandra's familiar Clarella came into the mix. Then for some unknown reason he seemed to regress to a baby and acted like a total idiot all the time.

He followed her out of the room. I shook my head and turned back to Cassandra.

"How long are you staying?" Collin said eagerly from behind me

I sent Cassandra a look which clearly told her to get rid of him.

Cassandra had him out the room in moments. She was like me, one magical parent one human parent and thereby had human half-siblings, she lived with her human father and his human son but she had a magical mother somewhere in Europe and three magical half-sisters.

"You want a drink?" she asked

"Yeah sure" I was kinda thirsty, I guess I'd adjusted to having a naturally wet climate, this was a shock to the system.

Cassandra led the way through piles of debris to the fridge and opened it. I couldn't even count the number of magical and non-magical alcohols were residing inside.

"What do you want?" she asked

"Just water" I replied, I didn't want to be drunk for what was going to happen later

She shrugged and got out a couple of glasses out pouring herself something which smelt like vodka but was glowing eerily purple

"Let's go up to the roof it's a bit of a mess down here" she said

Understatement of the century

"We're going upstairs" I said out loud to Zarbien

_Come back you... _I ignored him, he wasn't talking to me, he was talking to Clarella the butterfly familiar. She had a very weird effect on him.

The roof looked a lot better than the inside. It wasn't any oil painting but there was less rubbish and more importantly an amazing view over Phoenix. The sun shone down us, it had been absent from my life recently.

"So how are things in Forks?" she asked when we were both up

"Hell. Absolute _hell_, there is next to nothing to do" I said relieved to able to say this to someone other than Bella

Cassandra gave me a pitying look "Nobody to socialise with?" she asked

"No" I said disliking being _pitied_ "Well actually there was one...but he's gone now"

"Yikes well look this way you'll be leaving and off to Darkhalls in just a few months." She said.

That was one thing I disliked about Cassandra, sometimes she could be too...positive about things. Still I'd been meaning to keep her positive this past year she'd been on the edge so much before.

"So have you seen anyone else since you left?" she asked trying to keep her voice mild

I smiled slightly and shook my head "No-one from school only Coral"

She stared at me blankly "Coral?"

"Water-witch, she lives in underground Port-Angeles, owns a shop there with her brother. She's about our age but isn't going Darkhalls, I think she's going back to her own country pretty soon"

"Huh"

"I also went to party with that one other magical being I talked about but that's it literally. It's been torture. I very nearly just decided to pack it all in and come back here"

"Where were you planning to stay?"

I shrugged "Thought I could crash here for a while or with Emmeline or Ash"

"You don't want to go anywhere near Emmeline nowadays" said Cassandra eyes widening in emphasis

"Why?"

"She's fell for someone."

"Emmeline really? She doesn't usually date" I said

"She does now"

"Who is it?" I asked curious

"Evan" she said nodding

"Evan?...oh god you can't mean..."

She nodded

"Holy shit what is she thinking?" I exclaimed. Evan was pretty much mostly human but had some giant blood, he was also a real prat. You could not meet a more obnoxious arrogant guy

"Only the Gods know." said Cassandra "And that's not the half of it. She's actually serious about it, she was supposed to go to Darkhalls last month but she stayed here to be with _him_"

That was insane. She'd gone insane, oh well she had always been a little weird. Some people just couldn't be helped. This is what I meant by being able to act natural around supernaturals, I could chat and laugh and be a lot more social. I wasn't as emotionless as Bella thought.

"Have they decided whether to let you in or not?" I asked

"To Darkhalls?"

"Yeah have they sent you some kind of notification?" I asked

"I got a shadow message saying that since I'd been clean since and I'd had time to put myself back in shape if I stay this way I'm am allowed access to Darkhalls in august" she said

"That's great" I said. Technically Cassandra should have gone to Darkhalls last year when she turned seventeen but due to what led to intensive magical drug use she'd been held back and considered not up to it.

"Thank you again for getting me out of all that" she said "I think you probably saved my life"

I definitely saved her life if she didn't kill herself on the drugs her dealers were going to kill her for not paying them the right amount.

"Thing is" she said and I could tell from her expression that I wasn't going to like what she was about to say "I don't think I'm going to go to Darkhalls anyway"

"_What!_" I exclaimed choking on my water

She sighed "Well I've been thinking and I just don't think it would be good for everyone if my powers got anymore dangerous"

"Cassandra don't be ridiculous. You have to go to Darkhalls" I couldn't even believe she was saying this.

"My powers hurt people. I think it's the best way for me to be. This life is working for me now I'm off the drugs"

"Cassandra you've got to pull yourself together. You may have stopped the drugs but look at all this alcohol. By the Gods you're getting so messed up you can't even clean your own apartment. Trust me this life is _not_ working for you" I said firmly "Living this lifestyle you're cutting yourself off from your magic"

She was silent and looked away from my eyes expression bitter.

Then it hit me "And you know that don't you?" I said finally "You don't want to use it anymore"

"Of course I want to but I don't want to hurt anyone" she snapped

"Cassandra you're more likely to hurt someone living like this. The magic's just going to come out of you in random jolts if you don't exercise it. You have to give it a chance-"

"My magic doesn't deserve a chance!" she shouted dropping the now empty glass of alcohol on the floor where it smashed "IT DIDN'T GIVE TASHA A CHANCE!"

I didn't reply rather surprised at the outburst. She just stormed over to the edge of the roof staring furiously out over the city as if it would burn under her gaze.

I sighed and put my drink down on the floor then headed over to the edge of the roof. I put my hands over the railing as we looked out over Phoenix and saw the bustling city up down below bathed in the heat of the sun. I could see cars running along the ground and people walking along like ants. Hmm I missed the city, you could feel the magic here.

For a while we just stared out in silence. After a while I broke it with a few simple words. "What happened to Tasha, it wasn't your fault" I said

"She was killed by my magic how is that not my fault?" she said sharply

"She burst in on you doing it after you specifically told her not to come in under any circumstances," I said incredulously "Cassandra that power is in all of us you can't just keep it bottled up. It's not her place to limit your magic and there was nothing you could do once she disrupted your spell"

Cassandra didn't reply gazing down grimly

Tasha. Tasha was the single most annoying human being who had ever walked the planet, a thousand times worse than Bella or any other human, she was snooty, she was a pain, she was constantly tormenting, basically she was a living hell. Unfortunately she had also been Cassandra's half-sister. She was Collin's twin sister and I'd always hated her and so Cassandra to be truthful and one day Cassandra had been working a relatively risky spell in her room and Tasha had purposefully barged in just to annoy her. It had backfired as a result of the sudden intrusion and Tasha had been killed. Cassandra had not taken it well.

"Cassandra, I have a half-sister just like you did but I'm not going to stop using magic just because it there is a _chance_ it could hurt her if she's not careful" I said "You can't just turn off your magic like turning off a tap it is part of you as much as your body your spirit your mind you can't let it go-"

"-But you can" she said suddenly "There is one way you can..."

I stared at her for a minute and her realisation dawned on me like something from a horror movie "Oh no Cassandra don't even think that don't you dare"

"But it would work. Collin would be safe, everyone would be safe..." she said sounding as if she'd found the perfect solution

"NO!" I shouted "No, no and _no_!"

I quite literally stood in front of her and gripped her arms and shook her "Don't even think about it Cassandra. I know you and I know you're upset but trust me one year from now you would rather die than go through with that. You know you would. That is _worse_ than death"

She stared at me for a minute then her shoulders sagged

"You're right. I know I just...I just couldn't bear if I hurt anyone else." She said sadly

"Look you'll get over Tasha but just even thinking that is _so_ dangerous" I said. I couldn't believe we were discussing this I could hardly believe she would consider going through with that. "Look Cassandra you need to look at the big picture, you've got to drag yourself out of this spiral of depression. You may be off the drugs but you're practically making up with it with all this magical alcohol. I'm guessing you can't even work telekinesis or do you just enjoy having rats breeding in your home?"

She gave a small smile looking down

"I know you want to keep your brother safe and do you know the best way to do that? Going to Darkhalls to learn how to control your magic. That's how. Staying here living this lifestyle your magic's eventually just going to burst out and hurt someone, it could be him it could be yourself. The best thing to do now is stay away from him until you learn how to get your magic under control, Darkhalls is the ideal place for both. Until then try and cut back on the booze."

"You really think that's the best idea?" she said sounding unsure

"Trust me Cassandra it is _definitely_ the right idea"

We sat on a couple of chairs and I let her talk to me about Tasha. I found this extremely dull, I hated Tasha and Cassandra knew this but talking about it seemed to make her feel better. It looked like visiting here had definitely been a good idea, if I hadn't she might not have gone to Darkhalls.

"Sorry I know you hate all this emotion talk" she said staring at my completely blank face.

"I'll live. It's still just a relief to talk to someone supernatural" I replied

"Yeah I guess. But you had another supernatural there you said?"

I nodded "Yeah but he left for Darkhalls a couple of weeks ago"

"What was he?"

"He was a war- um actually I'm not entirely sure what he was." I said thinking back to it. I was fairly confident now that Scorpius was not what he had claimed to be. He was a mystery.

"Huh. So I guess since he was the only supernatural you two saw a lot of each other?" she said

I smiled downwards "Yeah, pretty much all of each other to be honest"

Cassandra tilted her head in puzzlement then reached into her pocket revealing a tiny bottle of alcohol. It looked strong.

I held up a hand as she tried to open it and it flew straight into it.

"Hey" she protested

I shook my head "No, this isn't good for you. I didn't save you before just so you could go on a binge"

She looked at the drink and I was pretty sure she was thinking of a spell to get it back but honestly her magic was too screwed up to do anything complicated.

"Fine. So are you going to tell you why you're here?" she asked

"Maybe I just came to see you?" I said sarcastically

She gave me a look and I smiled. That didn't sound remotely like me.

"Come on really why?"

"Well I guess whilst we're on the topic of sisters, now I need _your_ help to help _my_ sister" I said

She looked at me "Your sister, you mean Bella"

"How many sisters do you think I have?"

She shrugged "I don't know I've never met your father's side of the family"

Huh, you wouldn't want to, I thought bitterly.

"Well I only have one sister and one is definitely enough" I said firmly

"What if you had a magical sibling living with you, wouldn't that be good?" Cassandra suggested

I felt a smile tickle my lips and I shook my head "I'm fine just me and Bella, I know how to handle her if anyone else magical was thrown in she might implode"

"So how can I help?"

"Bella has got this...crush" I said then stopped. That sentence didn't seem to make sense in my mind. Bella with a crush? That just didn't happen.

"And the problem is...?" Cassandra asked

"She's got a crush on a type-two vampire" I said

Cassandra's eyes widened in alarm and I quickly amended my sentence

"But he's a domesticated one. Strictly vegetarian, living as human, no accelerated powers and only just discovered magic" I said making that clear. I'd done some proper research on type two's and in other countries and in other continents – mainly Sorolamous – there were type-two vampires that were powerful and deadly beyond imagination.

"Still he's not entirely to be trusted he's already tried to kill her once and apparently her scent appeals to him. So I'm in a bit of a glitch" I explained

Cassandra stared at me "Err earth to planet Anastasia, the answers staring you in the face"

I frowned

She help up a hand and drew two words with magic in the air saying them as she wrote them.

KILL HIM it read. The words sparkled there for a minute then faded to nothing.

I sighed "It's not as easy as that"

"Oh so he is too powerful" she said

"No he's not, he's hopelessly weak for a vampire I could take him out easy. I've seen more fight in a type-sixteen fairy but the thing is I don't won't to kill him because it might damage Bella"

"You mean it'll hurt her feelings?" said Cassandra raising an eyebrow

"She's delicate" I said "I'm going to be leaving soon and she's gotten close to him, I can see it when she's near him I think she's full on fallen for him. I don't want to kill him in case it drives her over."

"Oh Anastasia get a grip. This is your sister. Her safety matters more than her satisfaction. Screw what she wants as long as she is alive to be miserable that's what's important. It's what I'd do" Cassandra was frowning

I thought for a minute. I'd been putting an awful lot of thought towards whether I should kill him or not. It seemed logical but I still wasn't sure.

"Are you worried Bella won't forgive you?" Cassandra asked

I actually laughed "Bella? She'd be furious. She'd whine and cry like usual but honestly I couldn't care less, her anger would last a week, two if she was determined but that girl is not strong enough to hold a grudge against me no matter what I do."

Cassandra smiled "Alright well, whatever is going through your head that deludes you to keep this vampire alive you will still have to explain how I can help"

"I'm testing him. To see if he's good enough for Bella, standard procedure. It's pretty obvious to me its not but I'm doing it anyway because once I go to Darkhalls I'll have no contact to her. Some of these tests will test his temptation for blood others will just be a test to see if he can survive through my challenges - so I might end up killing him anyway who knows?" I shrugged

"Alright" she nodded

"Anyway, the vampires want to play baseball in a thunderstorm today – I really don't know why they just do" I said in answer to the question I knew she was about to put forward

"Anyway I want your storm oracle" I said a little bluntly

Her eyebrows rose but she controlled it quickly and shook her head "I don't have one"

"I don't want to keep it I just want to borrow it for one evening" I said putting up both hands "I'll bring it back safe"

She shook her head "Anastasia why would I have a storm ora-"

"I know Sylvia gave you one before she left the country."

I was still sort of holding a grudge against Cassandra for that. It had really annoyed me that Cassandra had stayed friends with Sylvia after we'd broke friends. Granted it could be argued that the fall out was just as much my fault as Sylvia's but I wasn't the one who tried to commit murder with a blizzard.

"How do you know that?"

"That's not important what is important is that you let me borrow it for one evening" I said avoiding the question

She hesitated "Anastasia...why would you want it anyway?"

"I'm testing the vampire use your imagination" I said giving her a look

She hesitated "You'll bring it back?"

"Yes"

"Soon?"

"Tomorrow if it suits you" I said feeling exasperated

She hesitated again then got up and we both headed downstairs back into her filthy apartment.

She disappeared off into one of the bedrooms. Collin walked in and grinned like an idiot. I looked away and frowned at the room

"_Alistio ventrovular sista_" I said and suddenly things starting whooshing back into place and the rubbish smoothing the floor withered away like burning leaves. I just felt uncomfortable, last time I had been in a room this messy it had not ended well.

In about twenty seconds the room was still awful but it was a world better than it was before. I heard Collin clapping ecstatically from the corner and rolled my eyes. If Cassandra would just lay off the drink she could do this herself.

When she reappeared was carrying an object draped in cloth.

She looked at Collin "Go away" she snapped

He looked crestfallen "But-"

"Go!" she said with more force and he skulked away like a dog with his tail between his legs.

She pulled the material off and saw a large black orb with dark swirling colours inside. It looked like there were dark storm clouds trapped inside.

"Please you have to be careful with it" she said passing it to me.

"I will I will. Don't fret you'll have it back by tomorrow" I assured taking it with both hands, it was heavier than I'd anticipated.

"Alright" she nodded

I held it to my chest aware I was holding something very valuable (although the beads residing in my pocket were ten times more so). Still the orb was a lot more breakable. We sat down on the sofa which I had magically cleaned so it no longer looked like it could spread disease by touch. We hung out for a while talking – mainly about all the things I'd missed. I felt that familiar hatred of Forks growing inside me once more.

Zarbien then came strolling in and I couldn't help noticing his cheeks were very puffed up.

"Hey let Clarella go!" said Cassandra jumping up

I realised what was happening "Zarbien" I snapped

Zarbien opened his huge jaws and out flew Cassandra's colourful butterfly into Cassandra's waiting arms.

She sat back down on the sofa and started looking at Clarella as if to check for damage.

"We should probably get going" I said a little regretfully casting Zarbien a disapproving look.

_You got it!_ Zarbien said looking at the orb in my hands

"We'll see you" I said to Cassandra as I got up and headed out the door " And I'll bring it back tomorrow" 

As I opened the door Cassandra spoke in a very different tone "Anastasia"

"Yeah?"

She turned and looked at me and there was something in her eyes that made my insides go cold.

"It's up to you but please try and make sure your sister isn't in danger from this vampire. She may be human and annoying but that just makes them so fragile and...well losing them hurts more than you could imagine. Trust me."

I paused at the door. Her message was clear, she wanted me to kill Edward. I looked at her and her home, maybe that would be the best I didn't want to end up like this.

I merely nodded then headed out the door with Zarbien behind me. As I left I heard him speak three simple childish words.

_Bye bye butterfly_.

**Please review**


	81. Billy Black

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to me – except Anastasia and Zarbien **

**Bpov**

It was just beginning to drizzle when Edward and I were heading home. Anastasia had left to go and do something witchy, something I was pretty sure I wasn't going to like. She'd just vanished with those floating beads with Zarbien, as she'd been doing a lot lately.

It had been nice just me and Edward for a while. I think my safety paranoia might well be improving, I mean I had been walking alone in the forest with a _vampire_. I knew he couldn't really protect me from the supernatural (he was only just learning to see half of it) but in a strange way he made me feel sort of safe. The feeling that he was a vampire was starting to fade a little, at least there were some moments when I forgot. He didn't look like the stereotype vampire like type-tens and type-sevens did with cloaks and such. He didn't fly and his didn't have shiny fangs sticking out all the time. He just looked like a very handsome average school student.

As we neared the house I turned to Edward

"You should go back now" I said

"Don't want me to walk you to your door?" he asked

"Anastasia's going to be putting up the shield spells around the house soon. I don't think you should be in range" I explained

"Oh right" he said and I smiled pretty sure he'd had some experience with it

"So I'll be back around dusk" he said

"I'll get Anastasia to put the shields on hold" I nodded

He kissed me on the cheek and headed off with that freakish speed of his. I brushed my hand along my cheek and smiled. His touch was cold, kind of like Anastasia's, as if there was very little life there.

I walked the short way back to my house and then stopped in my tracks as if I had hit an invisible wall. There in the driveway was a black weathered Ford. That certainly didn't belong to us. Still it wasn't the car that got my attention it was the two figures that were under the shallow front porch staying out of the rain. I recognised them instantly, one was Jacob Black the other in the wheelchair was Billy Black.

When Anastasia had taken a dose of memory potion she had lost almost all her magical senses however she had still been able to sense despite being rather delusional that Jacob at least was not human.

I wondered if I could just back away slowly but Billy was looking in my direction. Clearly Anastasia wasn't back yet thus the protective spells weren't up. I wondered if I should have kept Edward with me.

Billy alerted Jacob who looked in my direction and smiled. I didn't return it debating what to do. What would Anastasia do? Probably demand what they were doing here and then send them away with a snappy one liner and possibly a nasty hex.

They didn't look like they were going to hurt me and I felt my feet moving forward. Why was I such a baby? I walked slowly through the rain towards the light of the porch where they were. I could feel their eyes on me.

"Hello" I said finding my voice when I stopped in front of them

"Hi" Jacob said

Warlock perhaps...he had the long hair for it.

"Have-have you been here long?" I asked

"Not long" Billy said in a subdued tone. His black eyes were piercing and I felt a chill run down my spine which had nothing to do with the cold weather. "I just wanted to bring this up." He indicated a brown paper sack resting in his lap.

"Thanks," I said, I had no idea what it was but images of potions and various magical artefacts I had seen Anastasia toying with sprung to mind.

There was a silence before he spoke again "Would you mind if we come in for a minute to dry off?"

I stared at him for a moment as if I hadn't understood his words then let out a very high pitched "No"

"Thank you" he said and I unlocked the door with shaking hands.

I debated whether to offer to take the package, he was an old man in a wheelchair so it was really the polite thing to do however I decided not to risk it lest it explode into some sort of magical disaster.

I allowed myself one last glance outside as if expecting Anastasia to appear with those beads and help but there was nothing there but the rain.

Inside Billy turned to me from his wheelchair "You'll want to put these in the fridge" he said "It's some of Harry Clearwater's homemade fish fry – Charlie's favourite. The fridge keeps it drier". He shrugged

"Oh" I said with great relief "Thanks.

Fish, just fish.

"This is actually good we're outta fish, Charlie's bound to bring home more tonight" I said thinking back to when I discovered Zarbien had eaten _all_ of Charlie's fish. Anastasia had had to knock Charlie out with a hypnosis spell when he found out. He was not happy.

"Fishing again?" Billy asked with a subtle gleam in his eye "Down at the usual spot? Maybe I'll run and see him."

"No," I quickly lied "He headed someplace new...but I have no idea where."

He took in my changed expression and looked thoughtful. Inside my head I could practically hear Anastasia reminding me that I was useless at lying.

"Jake," he said, still appraising me. "Why don't you go get that new picture of Rebecca out the car? I'll leave that for Charlie, too."

"Where is it?" Jacob asked, his voice morose. I glanced at him but he was staring the floor, his eyebrows pulled together.

"I think I saw it in the trunk" Billy said "You may have to dig for it."

Jacob slouched back into the rain. One down one to go.

Billy and I faced each other in silence. My mind was still on figuring out what he was and what he could do to me. After a few seconds, my nerves well they sort of cracked and I half walked half fled into the kitchen.

I shut my eyes and told myself I was being stupid dumping the fish on the side. After a few moments I could hear his wet wheels squeak against the linoleum as he followed.

I spun round to confront him. His deeply lined face was unreadable.

"Charlie won't be back for a long time" I said hoping this wouldn't be the case with Anastasia. My voice had meant to civil but sounded both scared and rude.

He nodded in agreement, but said nothing.

"Thanks for the fish fry," I hinted

He continued nodding. I bit my lip to stop my teeth from chatting. I could see him as a warlock, a druid all manner of magical things a lot of which had the capacity to kill me. Dear God I was paranoid.

He seemed to sense that I had given up small talk. "Bella," he said and then he hesitated

I waited

"Bella," he said again "Charlie is one of my best friends"

"Yes." I said unsure whether this was a good thing or a bad thing.

He spoke each word carefully in his rumbling voice. "I noticed you've been spending a lot of time with one of the Cullens."

Of all the things I had expected him to say this was definitely not on the list.

"Yes" I said again thinking of Edward

I was almost certain this man wasn't a vampire but this pretty much confirmed he knew of the supernatural. I felt a thud of fear for Edward inside my chest.

His eyes narrowed "Maybe it's none of my business, but I don't think that's such a good idea."

He knows they're vampires I thought instantly. Well he'd made this fairly obvious before but really he tells me this now. After I'd been attacked by them, nearly been killed by them, fallen _in love_ with one of them? I mean come on keep up with the programme.

"You probably don't know this, but the Cullen family has an unpleasant reputation on the reservation" he continued

I couldn't remember the last time I'd been there. Still something about his tone triggered something in me. I felt I needed to defend Edward, I guess that's what people when they're in love.

"I don't think that reputation is entirely deserved." I said instinctively

He raised one grey eyebrow

"Why do you think so?"

"Well," I said "The Cullens never set foot on the reservation do they?"

This was a gamble I was hoping was true. Edward and I had never spoken about the reservation but I saw little reason why he would go there.

"That's true" he acceded, his eyes guarded "You seem...well informed about the Cullens. More informed than I expected..."

Informed? I was informed on the whole magic world. By the look in his eyes he didn't think I knew about anything mythical or magical. In fact his look suggested that perhaps he didn't know that much himself. I very nearly said that I may well be better informed than him but managed to hold my tongue.

My silence seemed to give him his answer. His eyes were shrewd. "Is Charlie well informed?"

I thought of all the times Charlie had discovered magic and Anastasia had stripped his memory of the knowledge. He knew nothing. Something Anastasia noted frequently.

"Charlie likes the Cullens a lot" I hedged. He clearly understood my evasion. His expression was sort of unhappy but not unsurprised.

"What about your sister?" he asked "Annie wasn't it?"

"Anastasia" I corrected. I wasn't particularly surprised he didn't know her name, nobody had heard about her before she came to Forks.

Anastasia knew a hundred - no a million - times more magic than me. She could actually _use_ magic. I wasn't sure whether she'd want me telling people this, we'd been keeping it under the radar successfully until Edward got involved. I could hear the rain breaking on the roof, it was the only sound that was breaking the silence.

I found myself at a loss of an excuse "Well you see um Anastasia-"

"Anastasia what?" said a voice as the door opened.


	82. The Boy In The Dream

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Zarbien**

**Apov**

I rematerialized in Bella's house with Zarbien regaining myself looking around at its furnishings which I had never taken to. The sunshine colours...well. Zarbien's mind was still vaguely on Cassandra's familiar so I ignored him gently placed the storm oracle down and secured it in a place where it would not be harmed, shrouding it with magic. Cassandra would kill me if it were even slightly damaged; well she'd try at least.

I would have stayed in Phoenix longer and hung out with Cassandra, I wouldn't go partying like I had with Coral – Cassandra was drunk enough as it was – but we could have had some fun magic-wise. However I had to be back for this stupid vampire baseball game. Baseball, honestly, what was the point of it? Still now I had Scorpius's wonderful beads I'd been seeing a lot more of my old friends, since his departure I'd officially given up on human school. They didn't seem to miss me.

My thoughts were interrupted when I heard voices. I had better hearing than humans and could identify Bella's voice along with someone else's in a different room. Someone who wasn't her father or vampire boyfriend (I'd recognised their voices too).

I looked at Zarbien raising an eyebrow. His thoughts of Clarella disappeared as he transformed into cat-form following me to the door.

"Is Charlie well informed?" said the unknown voice and I stopped outside the door listening

"Charlie likes the Cullen's a lot" Bella replied sounding nervous

I looked at Zarbien _No idea_ he replied to my unasked question

"What about your sister?" the unknown voice asked and my eyebrows rose "Annie?"

I gritted my teeth. _Anastasia_. Not Stasia, not Ann, not Annie. Why could no one human ever get my name right? Sure it was an uncommon and old fashioned name to humans but it wasn't that hard to remember. Bella corrected him at least.

"Well you see um Anastasia-" Bella stammered and I opened the door

"Anastasia what?" I asked

If they were going to be discussing me I was going to be there. Bella was just going to end up spilling something she shouldn't.

Bella looked at me with an extremely relieved expression. I was analyzing the man. He was old, Indian-looking with long grey hair and was sitting in a wheelchair. He didn't look dangerous, there was no magic radiating off him, I would bet he was human. Regardless what was he doing in this house?

"Who are you?" I said blatantly

"Billy Black" he said looking at me "And you are Bella's sister I presume?"

I nodded. By now I'd gotten used to being merely referred to as just a relation of Bella's not an actual person. In this town no-one really knew me. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

"What are you doing here?" I asked in a voice which would make any human answer

"I came here to talk to Bella" he replied

"About what?"

"I think that's Bella's business" he said but had definite hesitation at my tone

I raised an eyebrow "I have a right to know all Bella's business if I want to" I said coldly. That way I could keep her safe and out of trouble.

I could tell by his expression that he thought this was rude and unfair of me. I didn't particularly care. He then looked at Bella with what looked like concern. Did he think I was going to hurt her?

I had just decided to press him for information perhaps by hypnosis – he seemed to have strong will - but then the front door slammed with a bang making Bella jump.

"There is no picture in that car." Another unknown voice complained, his voice reaching us before he did.

Who were all these people? What had I missed in less than one full day's absence?

When person walked in I saw it was a boy, soaked to the skin. My eyes widened. He was perhaps Bella's height but looked a little younger, like the old man he was Indian looking and had long black hair.

"You" I said recognising him instantly

His attention switched from Bella to me as I stared at him.

They all stared at me then including Zarbien.

_Who is he?_ Zarbien demanded. It wasn't all that often we had to ask each other personal questions.

_The boy from my dream _I replied. The dream which Zarbien for some freakish reason hadn't been able to see like I had.

_Are you sure?_ Zarbien asked scrutinizing him

I had almost forgotten about the dream (a lot had happened since) but I hadn't forgotten his face.

_Oh yes _

"Do you two know each other?" Bella asked sounding puzzled

"No" replied the boy

I took a breath.

"I need to talk to you, not here" I said to the boy who looked surprised. It wasn't really a request.

I walked forward and grabbed his arm pulling him out the kitchen and into the living room. I was stronger than I looked. I cast a silent locking spell on the door shutting Bella and that old man in the kitchen. She'd be fine I'd know if he started any trouble.

I let go of the boy when we were in the middle of the living room. He rubbed his arm.

"Who are you?" I demanded as Zarbien jumped on the couch.

"What?"

"Who are you?" I repeated with more force

"Um, Jacob Black" he said looking at me as if I were unstable.

_We got a name_ Zarbien said

"And what are you?" I asked. I could already tell he wasn't human, not entirely anyway but I often had vague senses of whether someone was human or not. Still I was certain no magic was radiating off him, none that I could sense anyway some can shroud their magic making it seem less than it is.

"What?" he said looking very surprised at this question

"You seem slow at understanding basic sentences. Are asked what are you?" I repeated

"What do you mean what am I?"

"I mean what species are you. Where are you from, what can you do?"

"Are you alright?" he asked looking me with some concern

I rolled my eyes and stared at him for a few seconds. For a moment he just stood still looking confused then he fell back and landed on the floor with a thud. Ouch.

He was out cold, temporarily. I propped him up against the couch and rifled through my suitcase eventually finding a truth potion. I picked out a good one, I wanted the full truth, this was important.

Conveniently the boy gave a moan then eyes flickering slightly. Before he could fully regain himself opened his mouth I threw the truth potion in his mouth and he choked half of it up, but he'd swallowed enough.

He was only still half conscious and almost completely immobilised. He clearly wasn't all that powerful against magic.

"Who are you?" I asked

"Jacob...Black" he said voice slurred

Well we knew he was telling the truth about that then.

"What are you?" I asked

"Err...human" he replied

From his voice I could tell he wasn't really sure how to answer the question.

_He only _thinks_ he's human_ Zarbien said sounding a little irritated at this answer

"Do you know about my dream?"

"No" he said shaking his head which lolled forward like a rag doll's.

"Do you know my sister?" I asked pulling his head back up

"Yes"

"How do you know her?" I asked thinking of Bella and the dream with those weird scales.

"We knew each other when we were younger. I saw her a few weeks ago...you too" he replied eyes rolling to me.

I thought back to when I was under the influence of that potion. Oh yeah, how could I have forgotten that? I suppose I'd just ditched the memory of him along with most of the rest of that embarrassing experience. Me acting human, well that was just humiliating.

_Why didn't you tell me_? I asked Zarbien

_I didn't know he was the boy from your dream_ he replied

I sighed then turned back to the boy "Alright, do you know Edward Cullen?"

"Sort of..."

"What do you mean sort of, do you or don't you?" I demanded

His head started to tilt sideways; he still looked like he were going to pass out. I smacked him across the face to keep him awake.

"Answer me!"

"My dad...talks about the Cullens...lots of people on the reservation do..." he mumbled

"Why?" I asked raising an eyebrow. Did they know about them, that they were vampires?

"I don't know" the boy said dreamily

Well if they did he didn't.

_I'm getting the feeling this boy's a dead end. _Zarbien said sounding disappointed

I nodded. This boy didn't seem to know anything about the supernatural nor that he was at least not entirely human. Great, I was trying desperately to find out what was that dream was all about and this boy knew no-more than the Cullen boy or Bella did. Maybe I should have asked Scorpius...he had featured in it too...

Oh well he's gone now.

"Why are you here?"

"My dad is visiting your dad?" he said sleepily

"My dad? Wait you don't mean Bella's father...he is so not my father!" I said voice rising several octaves. That was a very bad mistake to make.

"Charlie" the boy mumbled "He's here to see Charlie..."

I decided to shake off the insult, just let it go...

"Alright listen I had a psychic dream which for some reason my familiar didn't see now what the hell was your part in it?" I demanded frustrated

_He doesn't know what you're talking about_ Zarbien sighed

From the look on the boy's face Zarbien was right. I fixed some spells on him trying to determine what he was. Hmm...whatever he really was he hadn't grown into it yet.

"Anastasia! Anastasia open this door" came Bella's voice from the kitchen the door handle rattling.

I sighed. Might as well let them in, this boy was no use if he didn't know anything. I clicked my fingers and the door unlocked and Bella practically fell through all together.

The old Indian man who this boy had called his father wheeled himself inside.

"What have you done to my son?" he demanded looking at the boy on the floor with a look of great alarm

I stood up properly and stared at the man for a moment. His face which was filled with worry and concern for his son drifted into one of relax. He wheeled himself out whist Bella – with some telekinetic help from me – helped the boy up and led him outside.

"Think about what I said" the old man said in the direction of Bella when he was out the door. I looked at her questioningly as she shut it.

"You know I'm not sure if Jacob's in a fit state to drive" she said "What did you do to him?"

"Knockout spell then some truth potion" I shrugged "Nothing major. Why were they here? What did he want to talk about?"

"Edward. Billy's friend's with Charlie and he wanted to warn me to stay away from Edward. I guess he knows he's a vampire"

"Billy is the old man right?" I asked and she nodded

I shrugged "He might know but the boy didn't and if the old man does know about the supernatural then he should keep his mouth shut"

That's when I remembered the old man, he was the one who'd I'd nearly killed when I younger taking down a tree with some magic when we'd once visited the reserve. He hadn't been in a wheelchair then. Hmm...well he wasn't dead and it was his fault for being in the way.

She gave a small smile at this "Oh before when you'd taken that potion Zarbien said he wasn't sure Jacob was human...is he?"

I opened my mouth then hesitated. If I told her he was supernatural but I didn't know what she'd freak. Like she had with Edward. I glanced at Zarbien who was back in lion form. He shook his head in a way no human would notice.

"Yes" I said "He's human, Zarbien made a mistake"

_The hell I did _

Bella gave a sigh of relief

"So why did he get it wrong?" Bella asked

"I suppose because I was out of it his senses got kind of screwed up." I said

"Oh right" Bella nodded "Okay."

She headed upstairs and away and I sighed in frustration at my lack of information.

I had wanted to find out more about that dream. I had to admit I wasn't that good on the fortune telling front. Visions didn't seem to come to me easily. Almost all witches get psychic dreams now and then but to my disappointment I very rarely experienced them and when I did they were always fairly distorted. I didn't tell anyone this, I didn't like to show my weaknesses. But that dream...that was the clearest psychic dream I had ever had and definitely the weirdest. I knew it was real magic too because Zarbien hadn't seen it plus I'd foreseen that boy who back then I'd never met. It meant something I knew it did.

I walked over to the small window and pushed the curtain aside casting a spell on the car they were in to aid its travel back to the reservation, no way was that boy gonna drive it back without crashing. As I watched the car speed away I put the shields up around the house to avoid any other intruders, though this time the Cullen boy could penetrate it.

I wondered if I should have questioned the boy further, figured out what species he really was...

I came away from the window and heard Zarbien sniff loudly through his nose. I couldn't help my attention being drawn to the strong smell wafting around the room too. Why did it smell like wet dog in here?

My eyes widened and both Zarbien and I looked at each other thinking the exact same word at the exact same time.

_Werewolf!_

**If you need a recap of Anastasia's freaky dream check out chapter 30. **


	83. One Big Happy Family

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Scorpius **

**Apov**

I walked up the stairs not wanting to be near Anastasia as she looked rather frustrated when we had been downstairs. When she got in moods she got nasty and sometimes things would explode whether she willed them to or not.

I didn't know what she had done to Jacob but whatever it was she had determined he was human and that was what mattered. She had really scared me when she locked me in the room with Billy but honestly all he did was again warn me about Edward. Wonder how much knew...

I headed into my room shaking off the tension, waiting for it to fade along with the built up irritation and anxiety. I had to prepare for Edward and his family's baseball match and possibly some magical action.

I smiled in the mirror, I was going willingly to see a vampires playing a sport which could get pretty competitive. And one of those vampires was my _boyfriend_. I had really changed.

I tried on a couple of different tops, not sure what to expect tonight. As I concentrated on what was coming, what had just happened with Billy, Jacob and Anastasia became a little less significant. I gave up quickly on choosing an outfit – throwing on an old flannel and shirt and jeans – knowing I would be in my raincoat all night anyway.

The phone rang downstairs and I went down to get it knowing Anastasia wouldn't. There was only one male voice I really wanted to hear; anything else would be a disappointment. But I knew that if he wanted to talk to me, he'd probably just materialize in my room.

"Hello?" I asked a little breathlessly

"Bella? It's me," Jessica said

"Oh, hey, Jess" I scrambled for a moment to come back down to reality. It felt like months rather than days since I'd spoken to Jess. "How's the dance?"

"It was so much fun!" Jessica gushed. She needed no more invitation and launched into a minute-by-minute account of the previous night. I _mmm'd_ and _ahh'd _at the right places.

"Bella if you're going to ramble to that that girl do it somewhere else" Anastasia yelled from the living room sounding annoyed. I smiled remembering her saying Charlie's house had thin walls on our first night here. I put it down to her unnatural hearing.

Regardless I headed back upstairs with the phone. Still I was finding it a little hard to concentrate to Jessica's story of her, Mike, the dance, school – they all seemed strangely irrelevant after all that had happened. Well unless you count going to the dance as being chased by five angry bloodsucking vampires and dancing as being teleported to another continent and put under death penalty. Once in my room sitting in my room my eyes kept flashing to the window, trying to judge the degree of light behind the heavy clouds. I was sure Anastasia but what...?

"Did you hear what I said Bella?" Jess asked, irritated.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I said, Mike kissed me! Can you believe it?"

"That's wonderful Jess," I said more focused on my sister

"So what did _you_ do yesterday?" Jessica challenged, still sounding bothered by my lack of attention. Or maybe she was upset because I hadn't asked for details.

"Nothing, really. I just hung around outside to enjoyed the sun." Even though there was very little real sun here.

I heard Charlie's car in the garage.

"So how are things with you and Edward?" she asked shrewdly

I sighed, by now the school was pretty well informed of mine and Edward's new relationship. Well she thought she was, she grasped the romance part, just not the vampiric bit.

"Um." I hesitated not quite sure how to describe how things were going on between us. Recently my mind had actually been quite focused on how things were going between Edward and _Anastasia_ as well as myself.

The front door slammed and I could hear Charlie banging around under the stairs, no doubt trying to take his fish away. I could hear raised voices, he had clearly ended up passing Anastasia in the process though. Shit.

"Um Jess could you call me back later it's a small domestic emergence" I said running around of my room hanging up before she could answer.

I jumped down the stairs taking them three at a time. I burst into the living room where Charlie was standing at the opposite side of the room from Anastasia who bore an expression which would make any sane man flee. Clearly Charlie wasn't being a sane man.

"That's not true" he yelled brandishing some newly caught fish like an idiot

"Oh yeah" Anastasia laughed "If I'm right she cheated on you while you were married and ditched you like the waste of space you are, since then she'd had boyfriends and a husband while you've been alone rotting in this sess pit."

"Be quiet you parasite!" he shouted

"You wanna see a parasite I can make it happen" she shouted right back no doubt seconds away from doing something very magical and very very horrible.

I jumped between them holding out both hands.

"Stop it" I cried "Stop it"

"Bella stay of this" Charlie said eyes focused on Anastasia

"Get out of the way Bella I have to teach this one a lesson" Anastasia said eyes going much darker than was natural.

"Come on you two please don't fight. Come on."

"Bella move or I will _make_ you move" Anastasia said voice intensifying

"Anastasia we need to go soon. Is he really worth it?" I said. This was the one line that might make her back down.

Her eyes narrowed at him with unabashed hatred and I could tell she was weighing up this sentence, the line of pride along with the temptation to blast Charlie to pieces. Eventually she sighed and turned. "If he's not outta here in two seconds he is so dead"

I grabbed Charlie and quite literally dragged him out of the living room into the kitchen.

"Bella" he protested.

"Please don't dad. She's my sister." I said in my best pleading voice.

He looked at me and my best desperate expression then nodded, there was a silence and put the fish he was holding in the fridge.

"Nice catch" I said trying to lighten the mood.

"Yeah. Now I swear if that fanged feline lays one paw on them then I really will _really_ lose it. There's more than one way to skin a cat." He said

My eyebrows rose. If that joke became literal it would cost him his life.

"Billy dropped off some of Harry Clearwater's fish fry this afternoon" I said. There was an apologetic note in my voice to make up for saying he wasn't worth it in front of Bella to his face.

"He did?" Charlie's eyes lit up. "That's my favourite."

Thankfully this seemed to put him in a better mood and Charlie cleaned up while I got dinner ready. Once it was on the table I went into the living room with a plate of it. I knew Anastasia wouldn't eat with us – that was laughable – but I wasn't going to let her go hungry. However when I re-entered the living room she wasn't there, in her place was a note.

_Gone to see Veronica and her sisters to get some decent food. If he goes at me one more time we will be leaving this godforsaken town no questions asked. _

_I'll be back for the game, _don't_ leave without me. _

_Anastasia_

I nearly dropped the plate in my hands. We couldn't leave, Edward wouldn't be able come...not somewhere magical which is where we'd obviously go, they'd never let Edward in. And I couldn't leave him, not now.

I had heard her mention Veronica a few times but had no idea who she was, damn those beads where the hell had she gotten them anyway?

I went and sat at the table with Charlie putting Anastasia's plate on the side.

"Anastasia's gone" I said blankly 

"Finally things are looking up" he replied digging into the fish

I didn't reply just began eating in silence. Well Charlie was certainly enjoying his food. I was wondering about the situation desperately, there had to be a loophole...

"What did you do with yourself today?" he asked snapping me out of my reverie

"Well, this afternoon I just hung around the house..." Only the very recent part of the afternoon, actually. I tried to keep my voice upbeat, but was failing miserably my stomach hollow. "And this morning I was with the Cullens" Well one Cullen, Alice and Jasper had made a brief appearance.

Charlie gropped his Fork.

"You mean Dr. Cullen?" he asked in astonishment

I nodded even though Carlisle hadn't made an appearance today, I'd only met him once when me Anastasia and I had visited. He and his wife, out of all the vampires including Edward, had been the least wary of Anastasia having never met her. "His son"

"What were you doing with him?" He hadn't picked his fork back up

"Well we sort of have a date tonight, he wanted to introduce me to his parents...Dad?"

His face flushed as it had with Anastasia.

"You are going out with Edward Cullen?" he thundered

I jumped, uh-oh. "I thought you liked the Cullens.

Not him too. Did everyone in my family hate Edward? Maybe Anastasia had cast an anger spell on him.

"He's too old for you," he ranted

"We're both juniors," I corrected, though he was more right than he dreamed

"Wait..." He paused. "Which one is Edwin?"

"_Edward_ is the youngest?, the one with the reddish brown hair." Also outstandingly handsome and not human. I was used to keeping my mouth shut about supernaturals by now.

"Oh, well, that's" – he struggled – "better, I guess. I don't like the look of that big one. I'm sure he's a nice boy and all, but he looks too mature for you. Is this Edwin your boyfriend?"

"It's _Edward_, Dad." I said thinking of how much Anastasia got annoyed when people pronounced her name wrong.

"Is he?" he persisted

"Sort of, I guess."

"You said before that you weren't interested in any of the boys in town." But he picked up his fork again, so I could see the worst was over.

"Well, Edward doesn't live in town, Dad". Damn that was a lame answer. I needed my sister's lying talent.

He gave me a disparaging look as he chewed. I decided I wasn't hungry and left my plate on the side walking into the living room where Anastasia's note still lay. God why did they hate each other so much. I collapsed onto the sofa putting my head in my hands,

Anastasia loathed Charlie (would love to kill him). Charlie loathed Anastasia.

Anastasia disliked Edward (would like to kill him). And Charlie clearly disapproved of him.

Urgh...this was us, one big happy family.


	84. An Unplanned Accidental Journey

**Wow two hundred reviews. I can finish this story very happy now. **

**Disclaimer: Any references to the original Twilight belong to Stephenie Meyer **

**Apov**

I watched as Bella dragged her father out of the room. I felt like I was burning inside. Stupid stupid man, I wanted so badly just to blast his head off, it would be so easy, so tempting.

_I could always just follow them... _Zarbien growled just as angry as I was.

I shook my head trying furiously to think of Bella. She wanted her father alive for reasons unknown to me. Stupid fathers, they were cruel evil creatures. They were monsters from the pits of hell-

_I think you might be going a tad beyond Bella's father here_ Zarbien said looking at me sideways in cat form.

I guess he was right but still I could just picture killing Bella's father in a hundred different ways. I suppose humans would judge me unstable and overly violent for thinking things like this but then humans were innocent, they had such a positive basic view of the world, they were blind to what was really around them. If they had seen half as much of the real world as I had their thoughts would be a lot darker. That was one of the reasons - among many others - supernaturals kept themselves separate, a lot of humans despite all their stories would just go mad at all the things lurking in the real world and enough of them killed themselves over trivial things as it was.

_Let's get out of here_ I said

_Couldn't agree more_ Zarbien said in response

I reached into my pocket to my Sarlanta beads and was just about to threw them up in the air when I remembered the stupid vampire's baseball game. Damn, I'd have to stay here till it was over. Urgh, I couldn't do that, I couldn't spend another minute here. I guess I had to though, what else could do?

_Oh for the sorcery of Jesus let's just go, forget the stupid game we can test him some other way_ Zarbien moaned

I wanted to agree but I needed the weather to be perfect for this test and there was no way Cassandra would let me get away with keeping her storm oracle till another ideal day came along. I had to stay.

_What if we leave, then come back?_ Zarbien suggested

"Yeah. Now I swear if that fanged feline lays one paw on them then I really will _really_ lose it. There's more than one way to skin a cat." Bella's father said from the kitchen

Zarbien transformed back to a lion and headed towards the kitchen fangs bared ready for action. I was very tempted to just let him go in and rip that lunatic to shreds, still, even I had to admit killing him right in front of Bella would be a bit cruel.

"Let's just go to Veronica's" I sighed saying the first name that sprung to mind

Zarbien stopped at the door

_Veronica's?_ He said in surprise

I shrugged _Haven't visited her in...a very long time. I need something to cool me down. _

Zarbien hesitated _Why don't we go to Cassandra's instead?_ I rolled my eyes. He just wanted to have another snap at Clarella, if he wasn't careful he really would eat her.

_I would not! _Zarbien protested

_You broke her wing six years ago_ I reminded him. Cassandra had been furious.

_That was...an accident. Please, I'd rather go there_ Zarbien said

"I couldn't face that irritating Collin again, I may end up cursing him and with Cassandra in this...delicate state she might get angry, she would go nuts if she lost two siblings. Plus she might demand her storm oracle back." I replied simply "Bella's right he's not worth it"

_Alright let's go to Veronica's, anywhere's better than here _

I nodded and wrote a letter to Bella ordering her not to leave without us and giving her a fair warning about her father. He had been very lucky today, he might not be next time.

Then I threw the beads up in the air thinking of Veronica. It'd be good to see her and her seven sisters again. In fact I think one of her sisters (I couldn't remember which) had a boyfriend who I think might even be a vampire – not the same type as Edward but a vampire none the less – she would be good to talk to. I still didn't know how Bella really felt about him, he seemed way too clueless and not remotely interesting to me to make a good partner, I was still having trouble seeing them as a successful couple, not like me and Zeke.

Soon all I saw was gold and when I rematerialized I tripped forward and crashed into a body knocking them backwards straight onto the floor. Oh damn, Veronica wasn't the kind of girl you knocked over without argument.

I leaned back but it wasn't Veronica who looked up at me. Veronica had ebony skin, curly black and purple striped hair and violet eyes as did all her sisters. However the person I had just succeeded in flooring had startlingly pale skin, long straight jet black hair and eyes as dark and empty as the depths of space. They looked angry.

"Zeke" I said startled jumping back

His expression changed from one of anger to one of incredulity. So much that it made my surprise seem minute. His mouth literally dropped open as he stared at me as if I'd grown another head.

"Anastasia?" he said in a voice which suggested he thought he was seeing things

I panted slightly in shock glancing to Zarbien who was getting to his feet on the other side of the room. How the hell had I ended up here? I had been thinking of Veronica whilst holding the beads...but then Zeke had just popped in to my head for just a moment. Clearly that was enough.

"Hello Zeke" I said at a loss of things to say

He sat up still staring at me "How – how did you get here?"

We both stood up before I answered "I...teleported" I said knowing this sounded ridiculous

"You can't teleport. Even if you could the protective spells around Darkhalls would have stopped you" he contradicted

Darkhalls. Oh of course I was in Darkhalls. I'd teleported straight across the world to Darkhalls. Another different continent, another _magical_ continent. I was really getting around these days.

My mind suddenly fizzed. Darkhalls! I'd been longing to be here pretty much all my life, they say it's incredible. Suddenly I wanted to see more than the inside of this room I wanted to see everything.

"Anastasia what did you do?" Zeke demanded

Nice welcome.

Instead of answer I just held out the Sarlanta beads in one hand letting him figure out the rest. He looked at them and his black eyes widened.

"Where...how did you get those?" he asked

Now he was the last person I was going to tell that story to.

"Long story. I can't believe it's you" I said voice shaky.

I can't believe why I hadn't thought to do this before.

"Anastasia you can't be here, if they find you here you could lose you place at Darkhalls for good" he said hurriedly

That's why.

"It was an accident" I replied flatly

He just stared at me. I was the first to recover and crossed my arms in an indignant way a smile playing across my lips "Well. Aren't you happy to see me?"

"What?" he said looking as if he'd just been snapped out of a dream "Oh yes, yes of course I am"

"Good" I nodded, this wasn't an opportunity I was gonna get for months

"But you have to go right now" he said urgently

"Do I?" I said casually ignoring him. I looked around the room, it consisted of a desk, some bookshelves, a black cabinet and a couple of magical objects. To put it plainly it was a study/office. Even though Zeke was only eighteen since he was so well connected - in other words son of the headmaster - he had status higher than any other student.

He seemed to relax a little and leant back on his desk and folded his arms a smirk forming on his face "I don't see any way you could get hold of Sarlanta beads – which is what I'm assuming they are" he said his voice taunting "How do I know you're really Anastasia and not a shape shifter?"

I raised an eyebrow "Well Zarbien's here" I said indicating him

Zeke looked at Zarbien "He could be a shifter too"

"What do you want me to say?" I asked

"Tell me something only you know" he said challengingly

I thought about it "Well you're father's the headmaster of Darkhalls, I'm your girlfriend, you're eighteen I'm almost seventeen and last year you took me to a royal party in Eluminor" I said

"Everybody knows that" he said dismissively

Hmm alright more detail "Okay, you're father is headmaster of Darkhalls but your great-grandfather is the high lord of Varcadan itself so here's even more famous. He also hates the idea of you dating me as I still think does your familiar Ivoros. I'm you're girlfriend but at first I hated you so much the first time you kissed me I broke your nose. You're eighteen and a half, you're birthdays in the dead of winter and you're an only child therefore heir to your whole family's estate. Oh and last year when you took me to that royal party in Eluminor at the end of the evening you accidentally drank a fairy drink which was toxic to warlocks and starting to see hallucinations and in the end ended up in bed for the next three days. To be true I didn't mind that so much."

I smiled, that would be tough to argue with. We didn't discuss how his family disliked me with anyone else, and no-one had been there to witness me break Zeke's nose with a good punch (he'd healed it right after with magic) only my close friends knew of that. I had been yelling at Zeke at the time when he'd just reached forward and kissed me much to my surprise. I couldn't help but notice that the situation had been similar with Scorpius not a couple of weeks ago, maybe I was kissable when in mid rant?

"Well...that's not entirely foolproof" he said clearly enjoying this game

I sighed "Your middle names Lorcán, you have the same black birthmark on your shoulder as the rest of your family. When I got to see all your family they clearly didn't like me and when we went walking in the immensely large grounds of your families land you insulted me and I pushed you into a fountain. Oh and we first slept together back in your mansion in your father's home office" I rest my case

Zeke looked down but I could see a small smile.

"Alright you win, you're Anastasia" he said

"Thank you"

"Where did you hear my middle name?"

I smiled slightly knowing he hated the name Lorcán.

"Well when I was at your mansion last summer I heard you and your grandfather get into another shouting match about the family honour and he called you by your full name" I said

"Oh...you heard that huh?"

I nodded "Yeah he really hates me"

Zeke shrugged "My choice not his"

I smiled, you'd think it would suck to have your boyfriend's family hate you but it sort of made me feel special that Zeke would go up against all of them for me, especially since they were so powerful and since he was an only child and had the whole of his family honour on his shoulders.

"So do I really have to leave '_right now'_?" I said raising an eyebrow

He smiled "You should but I know you don't take orders from me"

"No" I nodded. I refused to have the lower hand in any intimate relationship. I wanted to be just as much in the control of it as he other person. Some girls thought it romantic to completely give in to the guy but honestly I hated those pathetic push over girls who would throw themselves to the hounds or jump of a cliff if their guy walked out on them. That wasn't romantic that was giving in to chronic depression. I was a free spirit, I would never let anyone take that away from me, not even Zeke. This didn't bother Zeke, in fact I think it was one of the attributes that made him love me, my independency.

At that point the door opened and I leapt backwards in alarm. Zeke didn't flinch though.

"It's just Ivoros" he assured

I deflated trying to ebb down the panic which had built up within me heart hammering. I knew I really should go, that could so easily have been someone else, then where would I be in the future...it didn't bear thinking about.

The door opened and in slid Zeke's familiar a massive snake larger than any snake which scoured human continents. It was jet black including the eyes say of the blood red pupil. Ivoros. He had grown since I last saw him, really grown. That was what happens to familiars when they're witch or warlock's power starts to accelerate (aka they attend somewhere like Darkhalls and learn lots of spells ect.), it would happen to Zarbien, he would double in size in just few months. I knew Zarbien was quite looking forward to this.

Ivoros looked at me with narrowed eyes, I was still convinced he didn't like me. Mostly warlocks and witches share similar opinions on people and other things since they were two halves of the same whole however Ivoros had never taken to me the way Zeke had.

Zarbien walked forward and Ivoros turned to him

_Hello Ivoros _

I could only hear Zarbien's side of the conversation for my mind was in no way connected to Ivoros that was always a little annoying. Still it appeared they were getting along now, despite disliking me he seemed to approve of Zarbien.

"You don't have to leave anyway" Zeke said shaking his head "Over-reaction"

I smiled "So this is Darkhalls?" I said and walked over to him sitting on his desk besides him.

"Well it's my office" he shrugged "You really need to see outside to appreciate it."

I looked towards the door, all of Darkhalls lay outside...no, that was just too risky I said furiously dragging my eyes away. Have some control girl.

I distracted myself by talking to Zeke. It was nice, very nice, we hadn't spoken since he broke into the mirror network for me. Still talking was nice but it was even nicer when he leaned over and kissed me. I kissed him back automatically wrapping my arm round his neck.

_What do you say we leave these two alone?_ Came Zarbien's voice.

I heard Ivoros hiss which may have been a response to Zarbien or a sound of dislike to me, either way I was too busy kissing Zeke to really care.

They strolled out to do whatever familiars do together but wouldn't go far. Zeke was now stronger they could be apart over much longer distances, I however still felt a significant drain if Zarbien went very far away.

I kissed Zeke harder which he responded to immediately pushing me back onto his desk. I pulled the black band from his straight black hair letting it fall down to his shoulders then clicked the same hand making the door lock.

I should have come here the day I got these god damn beads.

Things were just going further between us when I heard the door handle turn. We both jerked upwards in alarm.

"Shit" I said frantically looking at Zeke

The locked doorknob turned a few more times to no avail

"Ezekiel. Ezekiel open this door" a voice said from outside

I knew that voice.

**Hmm who could it be? Take a guess. **


	85. Leave Her

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Zarbien **

**Epov**

I drove up to Bella's house parking on the curb. I had decided to drive the monster jeep to play baseball, partly because that witch had me smash my poor Volvo. Since then I'd been driving around in Alice's car, it was really just as fast but that Volvo had had some sentimental value to me. I planned to buy myself a new car this weekend.

I got out the door and was instantly drenched in a downpour with the strength of a monsoon. I looked up as it lashed across my face trickling down my marble-like skin. At least I had a raincoat. I wondered how Bella would fare in this. Even though she had unveiled a world stronger than I could ever have imagined I couldn't help but remember just how delicate she was.

I walked up to the porch under the light. I felt that same longing to see Bella I had had for...well pretty much since I'd met her, after the initial longing to kill her. Well to be truthful that feeling was still sort of there but I could ignore it with more success now.

However when the door opened it was not Bella I faced but Chief Swan. Bella was right behind him looking a little nervous at the situation.

For a second I just looked at him wondering what to say. Thankfully he saved me the trouble.

"Come on in, Edward." He said

I felt relieved, I hadn't even known he knew my name.

"Thanks, Chief Swan," I said in my most respectful voice

"Go ahead and call me Charlie. Here, I'll take your jacket."

"Thanks, sir." I said handing it over

I could see pure politeness but sense hostility, it was radiating from his mind. He was one of those protective fathers. Ironic that he would never be able to physically protect Bella from me, still her sister could have that job.

I sat down fluidly in the only chair not wanting to sit next to the Chief when he was in protective-father mode. Now Bella would have to sit with him and she shot me a dirty look which I responded to with a wink since the Chief's back was turned.

"So I hear your getting my girl to watch you play baseball." He said, I wasn't particularly surprised she'd told him what we were doing, she was very honest to her family.

"Yes sir that's the plan." I replied simply

"Well, more power to you, I guess."

The Chief laughed and I joined in purely to be polite. I honestly felt Bella was being controlled enough as it is.

"Alright enough humour at my expense. Let's go." Bella said

"I trust you're taking _her_ with you" the Chief said and there was definite dislike in his voice and something else I couldn't put my finger on. I tapped into his thoughts out of curiosity. One sentence explained it all.

_You can't leave her alone with me_.

He was actually scared of her; a teenager who as far as he knew was human with no almighty freakish powers. I suppose she did kind of give of a very strange vibe, sort of cold and creepy. I was almost grateful I couldn't get inside her head.

"So where is she?" I asked Bella

"Um," Bella said "Actually she's gone out for a little bit but she'll be back any minute"

"That girl," the Chief said shaking his head "She just lives to hold up and torture other people"

Bella glared at him "You can go now dad, me and Edward will wait in my room"

"You're room?" he said as if this was the most vulgar idea on the planet

"I want to show Edward my biology essay, I was having some trouble with it and he's top of the class"

The Chief's eyes narrowed and Bella put on a very innocent face. The Chief hesitated then nodded. What do you know, Bella could fool her father, handy.

We stood up, by the look on his face he still didn't like this but just said "Well you check that essay then come back and wait here. When she comes you take her with you"

Bella nodded and we headed upstairs. Her room was light blue with a peaked ceiling and yellow laced curtains at the window. I smiled I'd wanted to see this room for ages, I tried that night, I'd been so desperate to see her but her sister's protective shield – Bella had explained – had repelled me. I'd been trying to look at that result as a good thing, after all staring at a girl sleep while she doesn't know you there could be deemed a bit...well, let's just say it was better I didn't.

Once again I took the only seat which was the chair at her desk leaving her to sit on her bed.

"So where has your other half gone?" I asked

"To see her friend Veronica. They're friends, old friends she hasn't seen her in several years, at least that I know of. I've only seen Veronica once. Anastasia left because she was angry, she and Charlie got into a fight" Bella said looking a little upset at the prospect

"Anastasia had a fight with Charlie?" I said disbelievingly "Well he looks better than I thought he would."

I was an honest to god vampire yet she'd thrown me off a balcony, had her familiar leave me dying on a road and had had me pinned against the wall like a puppeteer killing me from the inside out without even physical contact a few weeks ago.

"I broke it up" Bella said simply

"Oh. So when will she be back?"

Bella shrugged "She didn't say, but she left this note" she said pulling a crumpled piece of paper out of her jeans pocket.

I read it and raised an eyebrow.

"This seems a little...commanding" I said for loss of a better word.

Bella frowned "She just doesn't want to be left out"

I could have laughed. It was pretty clear she would love to be left out, I knew she didn't like me or my family and by the looks of it she loathed baseball. No, we both knew why she wanted to come and that was that she was planning my next test. Since she'd agreed to come I'd been trying to build myself up for it since the last two had been so awful, problem was I wasn't really sure what I was building myself up _for_.

"Well she might not turn up at all" I said

Bella shook her head "I'm pretty sure she wants to go, she specifically said to wait for her"

"You know you don't have to do everything Anastasia says, you are older" I replied

Bella looked at me as if I was speaking martian.

"I know but it's not fair just to leave her out" she said

"I'm not talking about just now, you _always_ do what she says" I said trying to get through to her

"Well that's because she's right."

"About everything?" I said raising an eyebrow

"Well not _everything_ but most things. In fact if I'd paid more attention to her we'd have never ended up on that other continent. I forced her to get up when she was half asleep with a killer hangover. That's why she mixed up the potions."

I still half believed she'd done it on purpose just to get back at me but didn't say so.

"She's saved my life more times than I can count" she added

"Yeah but I'm gonna go ahead and say that you were always in those situations _because_ of her. Am I right?"

She hesitated basically answering my question.

"Well not every time," she said "Like...like when Tyler's van slipped and she stopped it hitting me back at school. That wasn't her fault but she saved me. If it weren't for her Tyler's van would have squished me."

I debated telling her that _I_ would have saved her if Anastasia weren't there but decided against it.

"Still, you need to stand up to her a bit more. Don't you think you depend on her a bit too much? I mean what are you going to be like when she leaves?" I said, I was kind of looking forward to when that happened.

Bella however went pale at the prospect and I felt a little guilty. It was clear didn't want her sister to leave. I blamed Anastasia, she'd made Bella paranoid of everything, for all I knew she was feeding Bella horrible things on my kind of vampire (according to her there were more than one type).

"I'll...I'll be fine."

"You need to get out of her influence" I said logically

"Look, don't make Anastasia the bad guy." Bella said. I toned it down seeing she was getting upset but there was still no way I could see Anastasia as the _good_ guy.

"Anastasia has done lots of things that she hates for me;" she continued "She came to Forks so she was all alone with no friends, to where there is no magic, nothing. That was all for me."

Meh. Forks sucked weather-wise but it wasn't hell.

"And lot's of little things," she continued "Not hurting Charlie even though he's horrid to her, not practising magic in the house, doing supernatural checks for me, getting up early to go a _human_ school. See I do order her to do that. Lot's of things she doesn't want to do." Bella concluded

"I'd still say she has the upper hand in the relationship" I said

Bella didn't reply

"What you need to do is disobey her." I explained

"How?"

"Go to the game without her." I said simply

She shook her head "But-"

"Write her a note, she can turn up if she wants, just disobey her order to wait for you" Because it was clearly an order not a request.

"Well...well in this case, I actually want her there. I mean just because you vampires will probably get a little...competitive..." she let the rest die

"Oh. Look Bella I promise I'd never hurt you and neither would my family" I assured

"They don't like me" she said with a little sadness

"No, they don't like your sister" I contradicted when she looked at me I tapped my head "I know, I can read their thoughts"

Honestly, they were kinda wary of Bella too and actually Jasper didn't like Bella considering everything that had happened to him. Who could blame him? Still aside from him they were all okay with Bella, Rosalie had a bit of a jealousy thing going but that was just what she was like.

"Well..." Bella said and that hesitation was all I needed

"Trust me Bella," I said going up to her "It'll be worth it in the long run"

"What if she comes back? I can't leave her with Charlie."

"Write her a note. Tell her where we're going, if she comes back she'll follow us, she won't stay here." Though with any luck she wouldn't come back at all.

She looked at me and I smiled a smile which would make any normal human weak at the knees.

"Um...alright, okay" she said sounding as if she thoroughly regretted her own words.

I jumped up "Great, let's go play ball."

This was perfect. Bella, baseball, no evil sisters, _perfect_. We headed out of her room and she caught my shoulder and I turned.

"And your family definitely won't...you know?" she asked

I nodded "Trust me, no vampire with bad intentions will come anywhere near you. My family and I are not going to be a problem. We're just playing baseball."


	86. Bad Blood

**Disclaimer: Any references to the original Twilight belong to Stephenie Meyer **

**Apov**

Zeke looked at me urgently "Go, go now!"

He meant for me to teleport.

"Zarbien" I said. I couldn't leave without him, he was too far away. I wasn't sure of the beads range, and I couldn't teleport _to_ Zarbien because I didn't know who he was surrounded by.

Zeke looked around desperately "Ur...hide"

"What?" I said incredulously

"Hide!" he repeated grabbing my arm and flinging me towards the cabinet.

Fantastic. Because this wasn't humiliating _at all_. I opened the door and got in, well Zeke sort of pushed me and shut the door plunging me into darkness behind him. The cabinet was filled with potions and I was trying very carefully not to knock any of them over onto me. It wasn't a large cabinet, these potions were undoubtedly very expensive and very powerful so I would put money on one if not all of them being very very toxic.

I heard Zeke open the door of the office.

I looked through the crack between the two doors of the cabinet.

"Ezekiel what was that?" said a cross voice

"Sorry father I was busy with work" he said lamely

His father gave him a disapproving look and I winced, this was my fault.

I heard a slight jingle and saw a potion to my left jingling precariously. I could use my magic to hold it steady but didn't want to cause any magical activity in case the headmaster sensed another magical being in the room. He was a really powerful warlock.

"Is there a reason you wished to see me?" Zeke asked like a proper adult sitting down at his desk with perfect stillness, putting his hands in front of him in a businesslike manner.

"Yes, two reasons. First and most importantly you know the type-four fairies and Vornarelos have called a truce to their war."

"Naturally" Zeke said

Well that was news to me. I never thought that war would end. Type-four fairies weren't the little kind Scorpius had set free, they were full-sized warriors, beautiful and deadly, the kind who lived an eternity and would do anything to seize their desires. The Vornarelos were hideous creatures but just as intelligent and proud. I never thought either side would surrender let alone call a truce.

Zeke's father continued "They're hosting a masked ball to formerly alliance themselves with the High Council of warlocks and witches at the summer solstice" he replied

Days like spring equinox and summer solstice were sacred to all fairies. They always held their celebrations on such times it seemed only fitting that their two thousand long war should have such a time.

"Anyway our family has been chosen among others to represent our kind at the ball, it would be unwise to refuse an invitation." He informed

"I'll be prepared" Zeke nodded as if he attended such things every other day.

Wow. That was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

"You've also been invited to bring a guest" his father added and there was something in his voice which suggested he did not wish this so.

"I'll take Anastasia" Zeke replied with the slightest glance in my direction.

I had to fight to stop a gasp, what I felt was practically amazement. I suppose if I found he invited someone else I'd be rather insulted – especially a girl – but wow, I couldn't believe I'd be invited to something like that. Someone of my social position should never be given such an opportunity. In this moment I was glad I was in Darkhalls, this place could control stray magic because with the feelings I was experiencing my magic would definitely be having some effect on my surroundings by now.

His father sighed clearly expecting this answer from his son "Ezekiel, we'd really rather you'd didn't take her"

No surprise there.

Zeke didn't move just sat there silently regarding his father which in its own way was frightening enough. His father didn't seem perturbed though.

"There's no-one I'd rather take" Zeke said voice cold

"Type-Four fairies are old and judgemental creature and look finely into blood and history. She would not impress them." The headmaster said firmly

"She's magical, she's a witch, soon she'll be here at Darkhalls" Zeke said firmly

Not if they found me here now I wouldn't.

"She has bad blood" the headmaster said just as firmly

Bastard I thought.

"She has a _human_ mother," he continued "And you know who her father is."

My heat sunk in my chest. It still rather hurt when people judged me in that way. This was exactly why I didn't tell people who my parents were, not unless I absolutely had to.

"We've discussed this I do not care about her heritage" Zeke said and I could his knuckles going slighter white on his desk. Well white-_er_.

"Have you no dignity?" his father demanded

"Plenty. I do not want to get into this now, we can discus it later." Said Zeke as if his father were completely his equal.

He means discuss it when I'm not listening I thought. No doubt this conversation would mean a lot of harsh words towards me. Words he didn't want me to hear.

"We need to discuss this Ezekiel, your actions could have consequences" he said sounding unwilling to give up his front against me.

"Later, please. What else was is you wanted to talk to me about?" Zeke prompted

"I just need an elixir of Heradro" he said nodding at this cabinet

My heart practically stopped. He started to walk up to it and Zeke jumped up

"No" he said sharply

His father stopped "Excuse me?"

"That elixir is not in there" Zeke said

"Of course it is, I remember I used it just last week"

Alright this was it I had to leave and just pray the beads would know to take Zarbien with me. They were magician beads for crying out loud, if they didn't...

I screwed my eyes shut and threw them in the air picturing Bella's home and Zarbien at the same time then vanished into a whirl of gold as the headmaster opened the cabinet.

He'd go nuts if he saw me here, of all people. He could add another bad thing to his list my attributes. Bad manners, bad personality, bad social stance, bad choice, bad blood.


	87. On the Way

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Zarbien**

**Epov**

We drove along in Emmet's monster jeep. It had been a bit of a hassle at first because she couldn't get on her seatbelt and I think the fact that her sister wasn't here had somewhat of an effect.

"She'll be fine" I said for the fourth time

"You know we can still go back," she said anxiously "She might not be there yet."

I shut my eyes. "Bella, come on, don't worry if she gets angry it'll be at me not you"

She looked at me "That's what I'm worried about."

I blinked, she was worried that I might get in trouble, that was actually quite touching, I didn't say so but felt kind of pleased.

Bella sat back and sighed "She wasn't always like this."

"What?"

"Anastasia, she wasn't always as...cold" Bella said eyes flicking to the window

I raised an eyebrow, I couldn't really picture her another way.

"You mean she used to be nice?" I asked

Bella smiled "Well nice be a bit much but sort of yeah. She particularly _like_ humans. Very few supernaturals doo after all we do think we're in control of the world, force them to lie about who they are and humans did used to try to kill them for no good reason. Still she never really hated them until..." she railed off

"Until?" I persisted

She was silent for a moment then answered "Until Zeke"

I frowned "Who's Zeke?"

"Her boyfriend" Bella answered sounding almost weary

I made a choking sound. That girl had a _boyfriend_? Who in the world would want to date her? She was an absolute nightmare.

"Yeah well he's really high class and his whole family really disapprove of humans...I think it sort of rubbed off on her" she said sadly "She's alright with Renee and me but people like Charlie and you she hates"

"I'm not human" I put in

Bella actually smiled "You're not much more to her. You act like a human and apparently compared to 'proper' type-two vampires" she said with an air quote "You're useless"

Hmm. I suppose I did act a lot like a human and she did have the ability to kill me with practically a click of fingers. Still...

Bella seemed to sense my discomfort "Don't worry I think she mainly just hates you because you're dating me. It was the same with Phil."

"Was that why you moved here?" I asked

Bella nodded "Anastasia's very protective. She wanted to stay back in Phoenix but I had to separate her and Phil before she killed him. When he proposed she got so angry. She may dislike humans but she cares a hell of a lot about guys who make moves on family. I don't think she would agreed to move unless a poltergeist had appeared in our house and started destroying things. If she kept mind-wiping Renee for much longer Renee could have ended up brain damaged."

My mind was only one word "Poltergeist?"

"Yeah, they're real"

I shook my head. It seemed like every monster lurking in story books was real, and hell I thought that my family and I had a big secret.

"Why couldn't Anastasia just get rid of it?" I queried

"It was a tormented one, not your usual." She said as if this was everyday conversation "Apparently it was a type of really tortured spirit that hadn't been able to crossover. Anastasia's magic had lured it there, spirits like that often head for magic in the hope that the creator will help them. Still they're insane, they're invisible, can't speak or even think properly and when they have enough of a magic atmosphere around them they can make objects telekinetically move. Our flat had enough of Anastasia's stuff in it. They basically just destroy everything they can until the magical being in question helps them crossover"

Besides myself I was fascinated "And did she help it?" I asked

Bella shook her head "She's not strong enough"

"Really?"

Bella nodded "It's beings like necromancers that can build bridges between the living and dead. We just moved out, I still wonder what happened to the people who moved in after us. There still would be an echo of Anastasia's magic, maybe enough to..."

"What are necromancers like?" I asked

Bella wrapped her arms around herself and shivered "Apparently not very nice" was all she said

I wondered what she meant by this and wished once again I could read her mind. I wondered if I ever would fully understand her, I wondered if I would ever fully want to.

I was rather enjoying the ride, I liked the monster jeep and I was looking forward to baseball, it had ages since we'd had a good game. I drove up the mountain side up the path until we reached the end where trees formed green walls on three sides of the jeep.

When I got out the rain was a mere drizzle, slowing every second, the sky brighter than the clouds.

"Sorry Bella, we're going to have to go on foot from here"

She looked at me "And by go on foot you mean...?"

I smiled "Have you ever seen a vampire run?"

She gave me a look and I realised she was thinking back to that unfortunate potion-car chase incident.

"We can run to the match" I said simply

She gave a small laugh "Run? Through this forest, I think you overestimate me and my co-ordination skills."

"Well you wouldn't be running, I would be, if you get on my back then we run we can be there very quickly." I smiled

She stared at me for a moment as if to analyse whether I was kidding or not then said slowly "Anastasia sometimes makes me ride Zarbien. She loves it but it always makes me feel very sick and dizzy. I'd really rather not go through that with you."

"Bella just close your eyes. I'm faster than that lion so technically the ride will be so smooth you won't even feel it." I said

Bella shook her head "Actually Anastasia concluded after studying your family that actually Zarbien is almost twice as fast at you when running his fastest"

I raised my eyebrows "But we literally disappear to the human eye when we run"

"So does Zarbien, I can barely see things move when riding him everything just becomes a blur. Its terrifying, he's faster than a bullet or a bat outta hell. The point is that I don't want to end up being sick in front of you."

My mind was still on the lion, I couldn't believe it I had been trumped at speed by a lion. A _cat_. Well I wasn't going to believe it till I saw it. I personally had never seen anything faster than a vampire, well except perhaps the la push werewolves.

"If that's so then why in that unfortunate scenario a couple of weeks ago did you escape from us in a car and not on your lion?" I challenged

"Anastasia was under the influence of a potion, a potion messing with her head moving so fast would probably have killed her" she said simply "Plus I don't know how to ride Zarbien, I'm always the one holding onto Anastasia for dear life when we ride together, we'd have both fallen off if we'd attempted it the other way round and at such speeds that would definitely hurt us too."

"Well I won't let you fall" I said undoing her seatbelt and pulling her onto my back just a little aware she wasn't too pleased towards the situation. I slung her arms round my neck feeling her pulse heightening.

"I'm a bit heavier than the average backpack" she warned

"Hah!" I snorted rolling my eyes. She weighed so little I could barely feel her. "Don't forget to close your eyes"

Then I ran. I loved running, it was so exhilarating, humans really didn't know what they were missing.

Still the only problem was that I could run so well and avoid hitting things because I could see so well and now with my new-found ability to see a little bit of this 'supernatural world' as Anastasia had put it I was seeing a lot of freaky stuff. Twice in recent weeks I had fallen over in shock (an unheard thing) due to seeing some bizarre creature in my path, I was painfully aware that if I did that now Bella would probably break her neck.

When we reached our destination I slowed and stopped.

"It's over, Bella."

She stiffly unlocked her handhold on my body and slipped onto the ground, landing on her backside.

She made a huffing sound as she hit the ground. Choke back laughter was killing me and as she looked at me with such a bewildered expression I could help but let it out.

She picked herself up brushing off the mud which only made me laugh harder. She pulled an annoyed expression and began to stride off into the forest.

I ran after her and put an arm around her waist "Where are you going, Bella?"

"To watch a baseball game. You don't seem to be interested anymore so you stay and be eaten by forest pixies if that makes you happy"

"You're going the wrong way." I pointed out wondering if she were serious about the pixies.

She turned around without looking at me, and stalked off in the opposite direction. Note to self Bella does not like to be laughed at. I caught her again.

"Don't be mad, I couldn't help myself. You should have seen your face." I said in attempt to apologetic but still couldn't suppress a chuckle at the memory.

She just sighed "You promised Chief Swan you'd have me home early remember? We'd better get going."

"Yes, ma'am." I said considering miming a salute but decided against it. I was fairly sure she wanted to get back early to meet her sister rather than her father.

I kept hold of her hand and led her through a few feet of tall, wet ferns and draping moss, around a massive hemlock tree, and we were there, on the edge of an enormous open field in the lap of the Olympic peaks. It was twice the size of any baseball stadium.

Time to play some baseball.


	88. Can't Swim

**Disclaimer: Any references to the original twilight belong to Stephenie Meyer **

**This chapter is really short and probably doesn't make much sense but it fits in with further plot developments so bear with me. **

**Apov**

I teleported across the continents trying to think of Bella's home in America and wherever the hell Zarbien was in Darkhalls all at the same time. This resulted in my teleportation being jerky, uncoordinated and unsuccessful.

When the gold around me cleared away, I suddenly felt like I had been stabbed by a knife as an icy coldness; it hit me like hammer in all directions the freeze shooting through all my circuits like a bolt of electricity. All around me was blue, a deep blue in all directions. I opened my mouth in shock and felt it fill with water, I tried to cough it up but just a stream of bubbles came out. I was underwater; I was bloody _underwater_!

I looked down and saw blackness beneath me, wherever I was it was deep, _really_ deep. I looked up and saw lights several meters above me, the surface. If I could just reach...

I flailed my hands around trying to pull myself upwards but found that water was like lead dragging me down further and further into that darkness. I couldn't swim, why the hell had I never learned? Such a silly thing and now I was going to die because of it.

Spells, my spells could help, but my mind had gone blank as it filled with water. Spells were just meaningless words.

I could already feel my lungs aching, I needed air. As a witch I could hold my breath a little longer than a human could but I'd already let half my breath out and that hardly mattered for the shock of the cold water was killing me on its own.

My body went completely numb as it gave up the struggle. I could already feel myself losing consciousness. It would almost be a welcome relief, at least the terror and desperate ache for air would be gone. I saw a dark shape a little it away about the size of a person with gills.

Was it a mermaid? I guessed it was a mermaid. It looked at me for a second staring at my drowning body then started to swim towards me. I felt it grab me round the waist and pulled me downwards. I tried to fight but all the strength had gone out of me as it dragged me down into the depths of the ocean.


	89. Preparing for Sports

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Zarbien. **

**Bpov**

I looked around. I could see all the other vampires there. Esme, Emmett, Rosalie, sitting on a bare outcropping rock were the closest to Edward and I, maybe a hundred yards away. Much farther out I could see Jasper and Alice, at least a quarter of a mile apart, appearing to throw something back and forth but I never saw any ball. I had to say Jasper was doing fine despite his injury. It looked like Carlisle were making bases, but could they really that far apart? What was I thinking, they were vampires, of course they could.

When we came into view the three on the rocks rose. Esme started towards us. Emmett followed after a look at Rosalie's back; Rosalie had gracefully risen and strode off towards the field without a glance in our direction. I didn't care what Edward said, that girl definitely didn't like me.

My stomach quivered uneasily as I saw them around me, Anastasia should be here, she really should.

"Was that you we heard, Edward?" Esme asked as she approached

"It sounded like a bear choking" Emmett clarified

I smiled hesitantly at Esme. "That was him."

"Bella was being unintentionally funny" Edward explained, quickly settling the score.

"Where's your sister?" Esme asked eventually

I could tell they'd been desperate to know this but a little too nervous to ask. Anastasia often had that effect on people.

"She decided not to come" Edward said

"But she might change her mind when she gets back" I added hopefully

Emmett's face broke into a smile and I could tell both the vampires were greatly relieved. I was used to people expressing this feeling in her absence but still couldn't help feeling just a little annoyed.

Alice had left her position and was running, or dancing, toward us. She hurtled to a fluid stop before us "It's time" she announced "Where's our last person?" She looked towards the trees as if Anastasia could be hiding. We told her what we'd told the others and she certainly looked cheerful at the news.

A deep rumble of thunder shook the forest beyond us then crashed westward towards town.

"Eerie isn't it?" Emmett said with easy familiarity, winking at me.

After the things I'd seen with Anastasia? No way. I just kept my mouth shut, what was making me nervous here was all the competitive vampires and no Anastasia.

"Let's go." Alice reached for Emmett's hand and they darted toward towards the oversized field; she ran like a gazelle. He was nearly as graceful and just as fast.

"Are you ready to play some ball?" Edward asked, his eyes eager, bright.

I gave one attempt to sound appropriately enthusiastic "Go team!"

He snickered and, after ruffling my hair, bounded off after the other too. His run seemed a little more aggressive, a cheetah rather than a gazelle, and he quickly overtook them. I could imagine Anastasia's eye roll. I almost wished I hadn't seen so many fast supernaturals, I knew this should really impress me but after seeing the others and on numerous occasions being attacked by them it just made me nervous.

"Shall we go down?" Esme asked in her soft, melodic voice. I nodded. Esme kept a few feet between us and I wondered if she were being careful not to frighten me or if I slightly frightened her. After everything that had gone down with my sister some of the vampires were still treating me like a disease.

"You don't play with them?" I asked shyly

"No, I prefer to referee – I like keeping them honest" she explained

I frowned "I thought Jasper was being the ref, you know because..." I let the rest die

Esme shook her head "Changed his mind, he decided he wasn't going to let a minor injury ruin his sports skills"

I raised my eyebrows, I couldn't help it. I minor injury, you call having your arm ripped off by a giant lion a _minor_ injury?

"Do they cheat then?" I asked looking towards them as they readied the game.

"Oh yes – you should hear the arguments they get into! Actually, I hope you don't, you would think they were raised by a pack of wolves."

"Try living with Anastasia" I said without thinking

There was a brief silence than Esme said "You fight a lot?"

"Well no actually we get along fine, most of the time but she fights with Charlie and back in phoenix where there were lots of other supernaturals she got into a lot of fights magic-wise." I said. I didn't mention that it wasn't always supernaturals, some kids had once tried to bully me a few years ago, Anastasia had put them in hospital for weeks.

"Still me and Renee can calm her down" I said trying to reassure her. Sometimes I added silently. "I mean we're her family. Blood-relatives."

This brought a smile to Esme's face "I always think of my family as my blood relatives. They're like my children. I never could get over my mothering instincts – did Edward tell you I had lost a child?"

"No" I murmured feeling suddenly awkward.

"Yes my first and only baby. He died a few days after he was born, the poor tiny thing," she sighed "It broke my heart – that's why I jumped off the cliff, you know." She added matter-of-factly

My eyes widened. Jesus Christ, that was one hell of a reaction. Couldn't she have just tried to have another kid? Anastasia said humans were easily susceptible to suicide. I guess she was more correct than I thought.

"Edward...didn't go into detail" I said for loss of a better response

"Always the gentlemen." She smiled. "Edward was the first of my new sons. I've always thought of him that way, even though he's older than me, in one way at least." She smiled at me warmly "That's why I'm so happy he's found you, dear." The endearment sounded very natural on her lips. "He's been the odd man out for far too long it hurt me to see him alone."

"You don't mind, then?" I asked, hesitant again. "That I'm...all wrong for him?"

She smiled warmly "I think that's your sister talking. You're what he wants. It will work out somehow," she said though her forehead creased with worry. Another peal of thunder began

Esme stopped then; apparently we'd reached the edge of the field. It looked as if they had formed teams. Edward was far out in the left field, Carlisle stood out between the first and second bases, and Alice held out the ball which must be the pitcher's mound.

Emmett was swinging an aluminium bat; it whistled almost untraceably in the air. I waited for him to approach the home plate, but then realised from his stance that he was already there – father from the pitchers round than I could have thought possible. Alice stood several feet behind catching for the other team. Of course, none of them had gloves.

"Alright," Esme called in a clear voice, which I knew Edward would hear, as far out as he was. "Batter up."

I gave one desperate hope, looking around the field but no, she wasn't here. And now they'd started, no backing out now.

**Sorry if in this chapter or the next with Bella I make errors on the subject baseball. But honestly the extent to my knowledge on the sport is that it's a lot like Rounders which I haven't played for years. **


	90. The Deep

**This chapter may seen a bit weird but hell, I didn't have that long to write it. **

**Disclaimer: Any references to the original Twilight belong to Stephenie Meyer **

**Apov**

I felt myself come to feeling like hell. Urgh...oh what a nightmare. Jesus that was weird. I'd dreamt I'd gone to Darkhalls and ended up drowning. Thank god that was just a dream, it had seemed so damn real, that was definitely one I was going to keep to myself.

I opened my eyes and saw colours around me, green, blue and black. Not right.

"Huh?" I said blinking and found my voice as more a groan than anything else.

My ears felt blogged but I heard footsteps coming towards me "Oh good you're awake, finally."

A girl came into view as my vision cleared, a girl with long, wet blue-green hair and green-tinted skin too. She stood over me looking down, analysing me with aquamarine eyes.

"Coral?" I moaned trying and failing to sit up.

"Yeah. Hey Anastasia." she said. There was no emotion in her voice but there was a small smile playing on her lips.

I gave a groan, the dead feeling still running through my body as if I'd been hit by a train. Oh god it was real, oh who was I kidding? Of course it had all been real. "How long was I out?"

"About an hour" she said "You've been sort of in and out of consciousness but this is the first time you've said anything."

"What...what happened? Where am I?" I said and sat up.

I looked around and saw I was sitting on what looked like large chunk of wet rock (which I might add wasn't very comfortable), the walls around me were made of some kind of wet looking substance maybe rock maybe something else. The room wasn't very large itself and for some reason I felt claustrophobic which certainly wasn't usually a feeling I experienced.

"You're in the ocean." she said simply

"The ocean?" I exclaimed

I thought I was somewhere in Port Angeles or something, that was where Coral had been living to my knowledge. What the hell was going on?

She nodded "Yeah the Farsotic Ocean. You're a long way from home."

"So are you," I said thinking about her words. The Farsotic ocean, I could have laughed, I was exactly halfway between Darkhalls and America. This was an uncharted ocean deemed too magical and dangerous for humans to enter.

She gave a proper smile then "On the contrary I'm just on my way home. The trip back to the old country was moved forward so we're sailing there now."

"I'm on a ship!" I exclaimed

She nodded as if this were the norm.

Oh my God. I clutched my head as pain rocked through it again. "Oww. I think my heads going to explode."

"Oh that, yeah, we've been trying to keep this room pressurized but we weren't expecting any extra passengers so we weren't fully prepared." she said almost apologetically

"Pressurized?" I said stupidly

"Yeah," she nodded smiling "We're _water_ witches and warlocks. You don't honestly think we sail above water level do you?"

So I was on a magical ship, thousands of feet below sea level, thousands of miles away from Bella and America itself. It really would be funny if my head wasn't hurting so badly. Then a thought struck me.

"Zarbien, where's Zarbien?" I choked

She held up two hands "Cool it, cool it. He's fine, luckily he could swim. We brought him down too which knocked him out anyway and had to keep him in another chamber to balance out the pressure but he's alright. Woke up about half an hour ago demanding to see you."

I smiled imagining him. I could probably make contact with him from here if my mind was working properly. The last time I remembered seeing him was at Darkhalls. Or was it in the water? That figure...no it hadn't been Zarbien. It had been a mermaid with long blue-green hair and gills. Then I looked at Coral.

"You saved me." I smiled

"Actually, I didn't," she said "Sebastian did."

"Sebastian?"

She nodded "Yeah, I told you we were all travelling home together. There's about fifty of us aboard. It's a big boat."

I could already picture it. Water witches and warlocks never went off the old designs of boats. It would probably look like an old pirate ship to humans except much larger, draped in seaweed without the skull and crossbones flag.

"Alright I've answered your questions now you answer mine. How the hell did you end up here?" Coral demanded folding her arms "Last time I saw you, you were in Port Angeles America, I don't see how on earth you could end up here in the middle of the ocean."

"You'd never believe me if I told you." I said thinking how ridiculous my story sounded

"Try me. Come on I need something other than the stupid rumours going around." she said

"Rumours?" I asked

"Oh yeah your the talk of the voyage. We didn't expect to have any normal witches sailing with us. We're still not sure how we're going to register into Yakarisan."

"I thought you lived in Atlantis?" I couldn't help asking disliking being called 'normal'.

"I do but we're stopping in Yakarisan to collect some supplies. Which will now include some stronger pressure charms for you, if we can't get you onto a ship back to America."

"And if you can't?"

"Then you'll have to come with us to Atlantis and...Well we're figure something out."

I suddenly felt a surge of panic in me "But I can't go to Atlantis! It's a bloody underwater city! I need to get _back!_" My hand flew to my pocket to feel around for the beads but they were gone. Most valuable thing I ever owned and I let them sink to the bottom of the ocean, nice little treat for the kelpies.

"Damn. Alright, what are these rumours about me?" I said hopelessly

"Well the only explanation they have so far is that somehow Sebastian kidnapped you."

"What?"

"I know it's stupid but he pulled you down to the boat, you're lucky you survived that, thankfully Sebastian can pull good pressure and oxygen charms and we hadn't done our third main dive yet. That was the best explanation they could come up with. Sebastian's denying it but I'm not sure if they believe him."

"Well for once he's telling the truth. He had nothing to do with how I ended up in the sea."

"Well please enlighten me" she said sounding a little annoyed and my delay in explanation.

I sighed "Alright, a while ago, about two weeks, I came into possession of some _Sarlanta_ beads. I accidentally teleported to Darkhalls and when I tried to teleport back I was thinking of two places at once and I think I ended up halfway between the two."

Coral just looked at me as if I were an idiot "Okay I'll ask them to cast another pressure spell in here and then I want you to tell me that again."

"Coral it's true." I said even though I was pretty sure if our positions were switched I wouldn't have believed me either.

"Why would you have magician beads? If your a magician and haven't told me I will be very cross with you" she said narrowing her eyes

Even if I was a magician I wouldn't have admitted it in front of Coral at that threat. She could be so scary when she wanted to, much more than me. One of her serious death glares could probably give a human a heart attack.

"Of course I'm not, I wouldn't have familiar if I was would I?"

She shrugged "Could just be for show."

Good point "Well I'm not, I swear. I would love to be one but no, I'm just a witch. I got them from a friend."

"Was she a magician?"

"_He_ wasn't. I'm don't really know what he was but I don't think he was a magician" I said thoughtfully. Maybe he was, I'd find out when I went to Darkhalls, _if_ I got to Darkhalls. Once you're in Atlantis it's not easy to get out.

"Is there no way you can persuade them to take me back?" I said hopelessly

"We'd have to backtrack over three weeks. This is the fourth-largest magical ocean in the world, it'll take a week us to reach Yakarisan and if we can't send you back there it's another good month till we reach Atlantis. There's no way we're turning back now."

**Too weird? Let me know in reviews. **


	91. Vampire Baseball

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Zarbien. **

**I'm glad I'm not the only one who's puzzled by baseball. We play cricket too. I've had a scan on the internet and apparently baseball is deprived from rounders anyway so I think Ill be okay, still just in case apologies for errors. **

**Bpov**

I sat there watching the game still wondering where why my sister's was and how on earth vampire's play baseball.

Carlisle stood straight, deceptively motionless. His style seemed to be stealth rather than an intimidating windup. He held the ball in both hands at his waist, and then, like the strike of a cobra, his right hand flicked out and the ball smacked into Alice's hand.

"Was that a strike?" I whispered to Esme.

"If they don't hit it, it's a strike." She told me

Alice hurled the ball back to Carlisle's hand and he permitted himself a brief grin. Then his hand spun out again.

This time the bat somehow made it around in time to smash into the invisible ball. The crack of impact was shattering, thunderous; it echoed of the mountains – I immediately understood the necessity of the thunderstorm.

The ball shot like a meteor above the field flying deep into the surrounding forest.

"Home run" I murmured

"Wait," Esme cautioned, listening intently, one hand raised. Emmett was a blur around the bases, Jasper shadowing him. I realised Edward was missing.

"Out!" Esme cried in a clear voice. I stared in disbelief as Edward sprang from the trees, ball upraised in his hand, his grin visible even to me.

"Emmett hits the hardest," Esme explained "but Edward runs the fastest."

The inning continued before my incredulous eyes. It was impossible to keep up with the speed at which the ball flew, the rate at which their bodies raced around the field.

I was certainly impressed at this and I wonder if Anastasia would be. Probably not. If she was planning an 'Edward-test' this game would most likely have been ruined and seeing how much Edward and his family were enjoying it I decided maybe it wasn't such a bad thing she wasn't here.

I learned the other reason they waited for a thunderstorm to play when Emmett, trying to avoid Jasper's infallible fielding collided creating a sound like two boulders crashing together. I felt concern and a wash of memory coming over me as I heard that, the memory and them and the avalanche. I actually jumped up in worry but they were somehow unscathed, instead just very muddy.

"Safe" Esme called in a calm voice.

I was pleased that she didn't seem as wary of me as the other Cullen's but was there such thing as being too calm? She would drive Anastasia nuts, Anastasia wasn't the calm type.

Eventually when Edward's team was up by one he sprinted to my side sparkling with excitement. I remember the day when he showed me how he really sparkled in the sunlight. I had thought he looked amazing. Anastasia had kind of ruined the moment by stating that it looked like someone had upturned a tub of glitter on his head.

"What do you think?" he asked

"One thing's for sure, I'll never be able to sit through another human baseball game again

"And it sounds like you did that so much before," he laughed

I smiled. Even if I had wanted to go, which I didn't really, Anastasia would never have come and I wouldn't fancy going just alone.

He flashed his favourite crooked smile, it always left me kind of breathless, Anastasia said it made him look constipated but I was pretty sure she was just looking for ways to insult Edward now. She'd done some further research into type-two vampires and it was clear she did not like what she found.

"I'm up," he said and headed off

He played intelligently, keeping the ball low, out of reach of Rosalie's always waiting hands, gaining two bases like lightening before Emmett could get back on the field to play. Jasper knocked one so far out of the field – with a boom that hurt my ears – that both he and Edward both made it in.

It was still puzzling for me how Jasper could play so...incredibly whilst so injured. I suppose with vampires it wasn't as big a deal as it would be for a human. Jasper had said that he wanted to get a robotic arm, Alice had teased him calling him Anakin Skywalker then, I wasn't sure whether this was a fantasy or if he may actually get one, after all money could do a lot.

The score constantly changed as they went crazy with the ball as they took turns to lead. Occasionally Esme would call them to order. The thunder rumbled on, but we stayed dry as Alice had predicted.

They had just switched positions when Alice suddenly gasped. My eyes were on Edward and I saw his head snap up to look at her. Their eyes met and something flowed through them in an instant.

I'd always been pleased for the spell Anastasia cast over my mind to stop people seeing into my head, I was also pleased for not being able to likewise being able to see into others heads. The people I had seen on my adventures with my sister had horrific minds I was sure. I would even bargain Anastasia's would be too dark for me however in this incidence I wanted to know what was going on.

Edward was at my side before me or any of his family could ask Alice what was wrong.

Because something was wrong, I'd seen that expression a lot in my lifetime, something was definitely wrong. And Anastasia wasn't here.


	92. Cursed?

**Disclaimer: Any references to the original Twilight belong to Stephenie Meyer **

**Apov**

I stared around the room thinking. There wasn't much to look at around me just four wet walls keeping me in like a caged animal. Several things were running through my mind. Mainly about how and if I was going to get back. But I'd let my mind wander elsewhere as well, I'd even dwelled on Bella. I wondered what she was doing now, probably sitting her room disappointed that I never came back so she couldn't go to that baseball game. Still it was never really a good idea for her to hang out with so many competitive vampires out secluded forest.

She was certainly in a better situation than me. I was very slowly sailing towards a city half the size of Europe. Chances of me getting back anytime soon was slim to nil.

_Try blaming someone else_ said Zarbien

He was in another room upon the boat since the pressure wouldn't allow us to share however we could still talk telepathically. My magic was just strong enough.

_I can't think of anyone else to blame this time_ I replied sadly. It was a good idea though, I often used it in situations like this for knowing the entire mess was your fault never helped build moral.

_Scorpius_? He suggested _He gave you the beads_

I shook my head even though he couldn't see. _He was only trying to be kind. He could never have known this would happen. Hell, I don't even think a prophetess could have seen this, it's absolutely ridiculous. _

_Bella's father? _

_Yes I guess _Still my heart wasn't in the accusation. It still felt like my fault. I couldn't just stay put for one evening could I?

I pulled my knees up to my chest and let my head fall down onto them, hair draping around me. Why did these things always happen to me? I always seemed to end up in trouble, it was like it followed me. I didn't ask for it, I didn't want it but my whole bloody life it had been like this. Worse it seemed to have intensified over the last few years as I became a teenager. I felt as if some unseen hand just hurled me into these situations for pure amusement.

To me however it wasn't the least bit amusing, as my reputation got worse through these events, the chances I had of getting favour of Zeke's family got slimmer. And I may enjoy watching Zeke stand up against them for me but ultimately I wanted them to see me for me. I may have bad blood and a foul temper but honestly I believed I was a good person (even if Bella apparently didn't – I still had not fully forgiven her for what she said when I had taken that potion) so why should the bad always descend on me? It wasn't fair. I just sat there feeling very sorry for myself, if I didn't know better I would have sworn someone put a curse on me. 

Some words I heard years ago whispered in my ear and an image of myself at twelve flew into my head and I shivered. I wasn't going to think about him. He already ruled my nightmares, he wasn't going to rule my head. I _was not_ cursed.

Then my head snapped up as I heard the water level going down in the small room which lead to my door. Clearly Coral had come back, hopefully with some news of whether I could get back. I was getting desperate, I _needed_ to be back. If I wasn't who knows what trouble Bella would get thrown into, who knows what a waste of my life I would spend in a pressurized completely locked up room I couldn't get out of without drowning. I was helpless here, a word I loathed associating myself with, I could hardly practise magic, everything was depleted within me. My body felt flimsy like it often did when Bella woke me up early in the morning. And just to make things worse my head felt a hair's breath away of going supernova.

I turned as the door opened.

Then I froze, it wasn't my trusted friend Coral standing in the doorway, it was her older brother, Sebastian.

Oh shit.


	93. town of disbeliefs?

**Hello reviewers. If you were expecting a chapter then I'm sorry but I've been seriously slowed down recently, A-levels and Karate lessons are officially taking up my time. Also I've recently been put in a very bad mood. Someone called 'AntiHugs' has decided to steal **_**my**_** story and call it **_**theirs**_**. **

**If you type in Quizilla AntiHugs to Google then go on her profile you will see a picture of her (she looks nothing like me) and see a story in her name called '****t.o.w.n o.f d.i.s.b.e.l.i.e.f.s' (if it's not there click view all AntiHugs stuff and under 'twilight' you will find 11 chapters of **_**my**_** story under that name, word for word). **

**I'm pretty sure that's not what you're suppose to do on Quizilla (correct me if I'm wrong). **

**She conveniently cut out all the things that note the story is mine. Like all the little author's notes I made and just left the disclaimers. **

**It's nice to know my story's worth stealing but it's a really bad feeling knowing someone else is taking credit for your hard work. She's says she wants to be an author but I really don't think she's going about it the right way. **

**If this has happened to any of you please tell me or even if you have any advice because this has really brought me down. I'm not going to be quite as dramatic as Stephenie Meyer was when her stuff got loaded up on the internet and stop writing altogether (I care about writing too much) but this certainly has certainly altered my view of writing online. **


	94. Water Witches and Warlocks

**Disclaimer: Any references to the original Twilight belong to Stephenie Meyer and none of it belongs to AntiHugs. **

**I have decided not to let an internet issue spoil my story, that would just be giving AntiHugs the satisfaction. Here is a nice long chapter. I'm going to get back on to Bella and Edward next chapter, still this one fills in holes. **

**Apov**

Sebastian stepped into the room, the door shutting behind him. He tilted his head side to side slightly as the gills on his neck closed over leaving smooth green-tinted skin behind. Creepy. He looked at me and gave a flashing smile, not good.

I just stared at him, my throat had closed up.

Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.

"Hi" he said in a pleasant voice

I backed away, getting properly to my feet, eyes not leaving him. This really was not a good place to be alone with Sebastian. He gave me a look which suggested I was being very childish.

"Anastasia, you're weak from nearly drowning, under bad air pressure which has undoubtedly weakened your magic as well the fact that you are away from your familiar." He said taking a step towards me "I however am surrounded by tons of water thereby practically drowning in my own element, power elevated quite a lot so basically trying to fight me would be a trivial and pointless exercise."

More than a little disturbed by this sentence I started summoning up my magic determined to blast him backwards.

He just sighed and suddenly a large amount of water fell on my head out of nowhere soaking my hair making me splutter. It suddenly felt like all my strength had been depleted, like all the magic had drained out of me. My legs felt like they were going to give way altogether. This was strange water magic, not my level of expertise. I slumped backwards and he smiled "Told you."

I wasn't sure what to do. I could hear Zarbien growling furiously somewhere on the other side of the boat but unable to reach me. I couldn't threaten him, any human would probably try pleading but I made a point never to _plead_. Plus there was no way Sebastian would back down just because of that. Instead I tried in vain to get up and summon whatever magic I had left.

He laughed at this attempt "Anastasia, please, if I wanted to have you here you'd be up against the wall already" he said "But you honestly think I'd try anything with Coral on board?"

"The one person you're scared of." I said weakly relief washing over me

"Scared?" he mused "Not sure that's the word. Anyway enough on that, what on earth are you doing here?"

"That Sebastian, is none of your business" I said hoping to annoy him into leaving

"Oh yes it is. It is when I have half this ship blaming me for you being here. They all think I kidnapped you or something."

I nodded "Coral told me."

"Well I didn't, all I did was have a swim up to the surface with my familiar whilst the dive was delayed and suddenly a giant gold swirl appeared and their you are flailing around like a dying fish."

I scowled "Do not compare me to a_ fish_. I was struggling because I can't swim." I said stubbornly

"I told my people that and half of them still don't believe it."

"That I can't swim?" I frowned

He nodded

"Why?"

I smiled "Well some of them haven't spent long on the continents above sea. They're not used to creatures like you. Water warlocks and witches for example can swim before we can walk. Hell we can swim pretty much as soon as we can move"

I really wasn't sure how to respond to that.

"Enough about me. Come on, how did you end up dying in my arms for a second time?" he asked

"Second? Oh." I said remembering a few previous years ago when Coral and I had provoked a water spirit and seriously underestimated it. It had beaten the hell outta me then tried to drag me under but Sebastian managed to grab me and hypnotise it with some weird ocean-chant thing.

I saw little harm in telling him now I'd lost the beads. "I got some Sarlanta beads and incorrectly teleported"

"You what?" he said looking taken aback

"I am not a magician before you ask, I just had the beads and ended up here" I shrugged

I knew I didn't need to explain what Sarlanta beads were to him. He was a tradesmen himself and I was pretty sure he had knowledge of the black market. I could feel he didn't believe me though.

"Well that would involve the gold swirl," he said then a smile swam across his face "So you were thinking about me and ended up teleporting here."

"I was not thinking about you!" I protested truthfully

He had another look which showed he didn't believe me. "All the ocean and you end up exactly where I am, that seems just a bit too much of a coincidence." he said with a wry smile.

He was right, it did seem to much of a coincidence and I got that same prickling feeling at the back of my neck that there were greater forces at work here...I shook them off.

"I was thinking of two places at once when I cast the spell. I'd accidently ended up in Darkhalls and was trying to teleport back. As you can see it went wrong." I said realising how stupid I sounded.

That experience had to be in the top fifteen weirdest things ever happened to me. Still he didn't look as surprised as Coral had.

He just shook his head smiling "You get up to the craziest things, you don't intend to but you always do. Adventure follows you everywhere. That's one of the reasons I dated you."

"I thought that was just to sleep me" I said coldly

"That was another reason but I also liked the adventure thing." He said then smiled almost slyly "I've been curious for a while, why exactly did you ditch me back then?"

I stared at him as if he were an idiot "Err, hello you cast magic on me to make me sleep with you, that's not what boyfriends are supposed to do. It's a definite turn off."

"Did you ever have any proof I did that?"

"You do recall that you tried rape me just a month ago in Port Angeles?" I said incredulously

"That was a month ago, I'm talking two years ago." he contradicted

I thought about it "No, I didn't have any proof but you did, I know you did. I was fourteen, no-one wants to go that far at fourteen. I know you cast a spell when I was kissing you. "

He raised an eyebrow "Hmm, do you?"

I folded my arms crossly "Well did you or didn't you?"

He just smiled downwards "It hardly matters, even if you'd never dated me it's not as if you'd be wearing white to your wedding is it?"

My eyebrows rose at the insult. I'd only told him about Zeke a month ago and he just _assumed_ I'd slept with him already? Well that was just rude.

Still my response was just "You're hardly one to talk."

"Water warlocks always wear blue at weddings. Old tradition, really don't get the white and black thing you guys have going. Why drain all the colour out of such a big event?"

I debated telling him that it was white to symbolise purity but decided I didn't want to hear his comeback to that.

"So you lost those beads." he said

I nodded regretfully "Guess they belong to the oceans inhabitants now."

I wondered where they were by now. I knew we were near the surface currently, but how far could they sink? I knew the ocean went from the sunlight zone to the twilight zone and then something like the midnight zone. I wasn't really sure, I'd never paid much attention to learning about the ocean, it was not my territory, I never in a million years assumed I'd be this far in it.

I did know that Atlantis was based at the border of the Twilight Zone heading into the midnight zone in this ocean. Something over a thousand years ago they'd had a very drastic relocation. I believe they took that civil argument way too far.

"So you coming home with us, that should be interesting" he said with a smirk

I glared at him "Once we dock in Yakarisan I'm going straight back to America"

"Yeah?" he said "And if you don't get a ride?"

"I will" I snarled seeing the cogs turning in his head

"Whatever you say. Well we get going soon, you've held us up for long enough-"

"_I've_ held _you_ up?" I snorted

"I've gotta help with the launch" he shrugged

"What do you know, you honestly do know how to do legal work" I said sarcastically.

"Only when working with Coral I assure you" he smiled and headed out

I slumped back feeling very tired. Scorpius should have given me a new healing talisman, that would have been of far more use now.

I sat there against the wall miserably until I completely lost track of the time.

After what felt like forever but had probably just been a few hours Coral appeared back in the room completely drenched.

"You have no idea how weird the gills are" I said with distaste as they melded back into her skin

She gave a small smile "Just one more way of getting round"

"Where Tulio?" I queried referring to her multicoloured turtle familiar

"Wanted to stay in the water" she shrugged

She walked up to the wall and slumped down besides me "So how's it been?"

"Dull, well Sebastian visited" I said

Her eyes widened "He didn't..."

I was tempted to say he had tried something just so she could punish him but then shook my head "Nah, with you on board he'd never do that"

"True" she nodded and I smiled. She had just as much influence over her brother as I did Bella. Although when I leave her for Darkhalls possibly, with this Edward should he survive that long, that may change. I was pretty sure he'd been trying to pull her away from me, though maybe that was a natural sister reaction, who knows? I thought about it a little then shook the thought off. That would never happen, I knew Bella.

"It's good to see you, even, you know, in this situation" Coral said

I nodded "It's good to see you too. I mean now that you're off to Atlantis, how often will we see each other"

She looked downwards "Let me think...never"

"Never?" I said startled

She sighed "I should have told you, once you sign up properly for Atlantis there is...well let's just say very little chance you'll leave the ocean again"

"Why didn't you tell me?" I demanded

"Because we were having a great night out last time we met and I didn't want to spoil it" she said, there was no regret in her voice.

I shook my head "Why couldn't you just go to Darkhalls with me, and Cassandra?"

"Who's Cassandra?" she asked

"Oh this friend of mine, went to my old school, look the point is why do you even want to go to Atlantis –and yes I know you're a water witch and it's your natural place" I said before she could interrupt "But I know you'd be happier learning the wider range of non-water magic with me"

She put a hand to her head "But I'd be abandoning all my plans, I mean my parents expect me to-"

"Oh parents" I interrupted rolling my eyes "Why must parents come into everything? You don't have to do exactly what they say."

I was surprised at my own bravery, people don't really talk to Coral like that. Still when it came to parents I was very indignant.

Coral gave me a sad smile. She was one of the very small handful of people who knew who my father was. Even Bella didn't really know who he was. Coral had found out purely by error.

"You can't choose your parents, the world would be a lot simpler if you could. And your mother isn't too bad" she said

I scowled down "Yeah but she's _human_. Everyone who meets me thinks, huh a human parent, she must be half human, she won't be able to do high level magic" I said bitterly

"You know your not half human" Coral said calmly "That's not how magical genes work and you know it"

"Still I get badly labelled" I said flatly

"Since when did you care what petty people thought about you?" she scoffed

I didn't answer glaring at the floor until a hot red mark appeared on it.

"Oh Zeke." she said answering her own question

"And his family. He's fine with me but his family hate me and in the long run I want them to at least not hate me. They know who my father is, obviously they had to be informed when I was enrolled to Darkhalls so they can't believe why someone like Zeke would fall for me." I said

Coral sighed "Look you're a perfectly good witch, in fact I'd say your better than most who were raised in a human environment and when you go to Darkhalls and learn you'll perhaps become so good even I'll be scared of you."

I gave her a look

"Okay I'll never be scared of you," she admitted "But you get my point. Plus if you love Zeke that's all that matters. You two have been like something out of a novel."

"Hmm" I said feeling a wash of guilt over me

"What?"

"Nothing" I mumbled

"What?" she said again in a voice which was so strong it could beat any truth potion. When Coral wanted to know a secret she heard it.

"I...I cheated on Zeke" I said wrapping my arms around my knees and putting my head on them

"You what?" she exclaimed

"You heard me" I said voice muffled

"But why? Cheating on Zeke makes no sense at all" she said sounding confused

"You think I don't know that? I feel like a horrible person. The guy wasn't even my type, hell I'm not even sure what he is. It just sort of happened and then he vanished off to Darkhalls like he never existed." I said. Saying it out loud made it a lot more real.

I pictured Scorpius in my head. He really wasn't my type, at least I assumed he wasn't. Maybe my type was broader than I thought it was.

"I see" Coral said

I knew she really didn't, from what I knew Coral had never been in any form of romantic relationship in her life.

"Are you going to tell Zeke?" she questioned

I shook my head

"He would kill Scorpius," I said "Painfully."

"I take it that's the guy." she clarified

I nodded "He's in Darkhalls now and Zeke has enough influence there to kill him. I don't want him hurt."

I wondered who exactly I was referring to at the word 'him'; Scorpius or Zeke. Zeke's power was really great but Scorpius's...well I really wasn't sure but he was definitely stronger than his magic scan indicated.

"Well I suppose if you still love Zeke, and you're sorry and regret it then it's alright" she said as if she were a natural in this field of problems

But what if I don't regret it? I said silently in my head.

"Still I think you should come to Darkhalls" I said firmly trying to change the subject from my love life before she could question me further.

She rolled her eyes "Look it's a bit late now we've already set off for God's sake"

"We're stopping at this Yakarisan place we can go back together. You know you want to, come on." I said encouragingly

"Anastasia you're asking me to change the whole plan of my life." she said sounding exasperated

"It's an amusing habit." I replied simply

She actually laughed and shook her head "God, I have and never will meet anyone quite like you Anastasia"

I think this was compliment.


	95. It's Your Life Not Theirs

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – except all the ones mentioned which I invented**

**Bpov**

I stood there beside Edward staring at Alice along with everyone else. Trouble.

"Alice?" Esme's voice was tense

"I didn't see – I couldn't tell," she whispered

All the others were gathered by this time but that hardly made me feel safer.

"What is it, Alice?" Carlisle asked with a calm voice of authority.

"They were travelling much quicker than I thought. I can see I had the perspective wrong before," she murmured

"What? Who's they?" I blurted out at the same time Jasper asked "What changed?"

"They heard us playing, it changed their path," she said, contrite, as if she felt responsible for what was frightening her and what was scaring the hell outta me.

After all the years of living with Anastasia safety was a high priority. Seven pairs of eyes flashed to my face and away.

"How soon?"Carlisle asked him eyes flicking towards me again.

"No, not carrying-"

"Who is coming, what is coming?" I interrupted staring at them all.

"Vampires" Alice said looking at me "Three vampires"

My throat seemed to close up. Vampires...like them, but angrier and hungrier.

"Three!" Emmett scoffed "Let them come." The steel bands of muscle flexed along his massive arms.

For a split second that seemed much longer than it really was Carlisle deliberated. Only Emmett seemed unperturbed; the rest stared at Carlisle's face with anxious eyes.

"Let's just continue the game," Carlisle finally decided. His voice cool and level.

I stared at him as if he had grown another head.

"What?" I exclaimed and they all stared at me "We should get back, we should stay away from them"

"According to Alice they're just curious" Carlisle said

"Just curious?" I said almost angrily "Of course they're curious, problem is when things are done being curious they get dangerous. If you'd lived my life you'd know that."

"It'll be okay Bella" Edward said putting his hands on my shoulders as the others went back to the field "Just stay by my side. I won't let them hurt you."

I said the only thing which was ringing in my mind "I want my sister."

It sounded a childish comment but it was true, I wouldn't be half as scared as I was now if Anastasia were here. Why hadn't I just waited for her, how hard could it have been?

There was a buzzing in my ears as Esme said something to Edward I didn't hear. Whatever it was he shook his head slightly and she seemed a little relieved.

Carlisle went and stood at the plate, and the others joined the game half-heartedly.

"What did Esme ask you?" I questioned

He hesitated a second before he answered. "Whether they were thirsty" he muttered unwillingly

If there was any colour left it my face it bled away then. "I want to get out of here" I said quickly voice rising "Edward I want to get back to Anastasia"

"We wouldn't get back in time" he said sounding as if he hated his own words "besides, the last thing we need is for them to catch the sent and start hunting"

Hunting...hunting me? Oh Jesus Christ.

The seconds ticked by; the game progressed with apathy now. No-one dared hit it overly hard, and the fielders seemed to hover infield. Now and again despite the numbness in my brain, I was aware of Rosalie's eyes on me. They were expressionless but something about the way she held her mouth made me think she was angry. Great, one more vampire for me to worry about.

Edward paid no attention at all, eyes and mind ranging the forest.

"I'm sorry, Bella" he muttered fiercely "It was stupid, irresponsible, to expose you out here. Bringing you out all the way out here...I was an idiot's mistake."

I looked at him "No" I said voice going flat "The mistake was leaving her behind."

He looked at me for a brief second then his eyes flicked to the right of the field. He took half steps although angling himself between me and whatever was coming.

Esme, Alice, and the others turned in the same direction, hearing sounds of passage to faint for my ears.

Anastasia where are you?

**Apov **

It had been a little under an hour before Coral came back again, I think anyway, I was surprised I thought I might spend all night alone. Well, night may have passed for all I knew time seemed to stand still in here.

I had been in discussion with Zarbien as she walked in and in one motioned showed the purpose of her visit. Without saying a word she held out her wet arm and uncurled her fist. There upon her flat palm lay several wet but shining Sarlanta beads.

"Coral!" I exclaimed jumping my feet "You found them!"

"Yep" she nodded "In Sebastian's cabin, no doubt when you told him of them he went searching"

"And he managed to find them, before they sunk deep enough?" I said surprised and a little impressed

"We're above a ridge he wouldn't have had to swim down much more than a few hundred feet, easy" she said simply as if such a swim was no more than stroll. "Anyway I'm pretty sure he has no intention of giving them back so I took them."

"Have you the strongest desire to give the back?" I questioned taking in one hand

"Well I'm not going to lie to you I was tempted but I'm not my brother." she said

"You can say that again." I agreed

She looked down at her feet "So I guess this is goodbye...for good."

My heart sunk. She was right. Neither of us were especially good at expressing our feelings in that way but I was feeling a great stabbing pain inside me at the thought of losing Coral.

"Come with me" I said suddenly

She definitely looked surprised and yet at the same time not surprised at all.

"Coral you're heading towards a life you don't want just go tell your people you changed your mind and teleport back with me." I said "Stay with me till we go to Darkhalls."

"Anastasia...Anastasia don't put me in this position please" she said shutting her eyes

"Why the hell not? Why should you do this just because it's what your family wants, it's your life not theirs. You just said your not like your brother, well hell you can be better than him if you come back to me and enrol it Darkhalls, sure you won't be as good at water magic but you'll damn sure be better at all the others." I knew this was a blow and if she got really mad she'd probably scar me for life but I had to say it, she was throwing her life away for something she didn't even want.

"My family just want what's best for me" she said but sounded uncertain

"Coral-"

"Look just because your family didn't work out doesn't mean mine doesn't have to" she snapped

Oh, low blow. I didn't say anything.

She sighed "Look I didn't mean that"

"Yes you did" I said trying to keep the coldness out for my voice and not succeeding

"I just...I care about my family. I don't want to see it ruined"

"It won't be, I swear. Just don't do this to yourself, you will regret it for the rest of your underwater life."

"Look Anastasia just go please" she said turning away from me

"No Coral" I said grabbing her arm

"_Stop it_!" she shouted wrenching her arm out of my grip, the tone of her voice making my body freeze "Just don't...just don't"

I stood there uselessly as she left, if I didn't know better when she turned away I could have sworn she'd been crying.

I looked down at the golden beads shining even more whilst wet.

I sighed "Guess it's just you and me now"


	96. An Unpleasant Meeting

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Zarbien**

**Bpov**

They emerged one by one from the forest edge ranging a dozen meters apart. The first male in the clearing fell back immediately, allowing the other male to take the front, orientating himself around the tall, dark-haired man in a manner that clearly displayed who was the leader. The third was a woman; from this distance all I could see of her was that her hair was a startling shade of red.

They closed ranks before they continued cautiously toward Edward's family, exhibiting the natural respect of a troop of predators as it encounters a larger, unfamiliar group of its own kind.

As they approached, I could see how different they were from the Cullens. There walk was catlike in the way they looked as if they were closing in on us. They dressed in ordinary gear of hikers: jeans and casual button-down shirts in heavy waterproof fabrics. Their clothes were frayed though, with wear and they were barefoot. The woman's hair was filled with leaves, debris from the woods and one tiny forest fairy invisible to her eyes.

My heart rate right now was so fast I would probably go off the scale on any heart machine.

Their sharp eyes carefully took in the more polished, urbane stance of Carlisle, who, flanked by Emmett and Jasper, stepped guardedly forward to meet them.

I couldn't kill the feeling that we should be fleeing from these people not greeting them. I also couldn't ignore noticing that they were all very good-looking. The man at the front probably looked the most handsome, with clean dark brown skin and long glossy black dreadlocks. He was medium build, hard-muscled but yet not as much so as Emmett. He smiled an easy smile exposing a flask of gleaming white teeth.

The woman was wilder, which only made her look more frightening, her eyes were shifting relentlessly between the people facing her, and the loose group around me, her chaotic hair quivering slightly in the breeze. She just reeked of danger. The second male hovered obtrusively behind them, also very good looking, had lighter hair tied back in a short ponytail and his eyes, though completely still, somehow seemed vigilant.

Though all their eyes caught my attention. They weren't gold or black like the Cullen's but a deep burgundy colour that was disturbing and sinister. I'd seen vampires with blood red eyes before, they were a different type to the Cullens Anastasia had got in a fight with them and all this situation was bringing up unpleasant memories.

The dark-haired man, still smiling, stepped towards Carlisle.

"We thought we heard a game," he said in a relaxed tone of voice with the slightest of French accents "I'm Laurent, these are Victoria and James." He gestured to the vampires behind him. Such ordinary names, English names.

"I'm Carlisle. This is my family, Emmett and Jasper, Rosalie, Esme and Alice, Edward and Bella." He pointed us out in groups, deliberately not calling attention to individuals. I felt shock when he said my name. They were not my family, Anastasia was my family. It should be her here protecting me not them.

"Do you have room for a few more players?" Laurent asked sociably.

Carlisle matched Laurent's friendly tone. "Actually, we were just finishing up. But we'd certainly be interested some another time. Are you planning to stay in this area long?"

"We're heading north, in fact, but we were curious to see who was in the neighbourhood. We haven't run into any company for a long time."

"No, this region is usually empty except for us and the occasional visitor, like yourselves" Carlisle replied calmly

I could have laughed at this statement. Forks may have a million times less supernatural beings than Phoenix but its forest still had the odd sprite and fairy lurking around. Nowhere was completely free of magic, at least not that I'd ever visited.

The tense atmosphere had slowly subsided slightly. I was still tense enough to drop dead but the situation itself had slipped more into casual conversation than anything else. I had a feeling Jasper was using his peculiar gift to control the situation.

"What's your hunting range?" Laurent casually inquired and I stiffened

Carlisle ignored the assumption behind it "The Olympic range here, up and down the Coast Ranges on occasion." My mouth actually fell open, how much blood did they need?

"We keep a permanent residence nearby" he continued "And there's another permanent settlement like ours up near Delani."

Laurent rocked back on his heels slightly.

"Permanent? How do you manage that?" There was honest curiosity in his voice.

"Why don't you come back to our home with us and we can talk comfortably?" Carlisle invited.

Home? He wanted to take them home? I thought he was trying to get rid of them? James and Victoria exchanged a surprised look at the word "home," but Laurent controlled his expression better.

"That sounds very interesting, and welcome." he said his smile genial. "We've been on the hunt all the way down from Ontario, and we haven't had a chance to clean up in a while". His eyes moved appreciatively over Carlisle's refined appearance.

I froze at the word hunt.

"Please don't take offence, but we'd appreciate if you'd refrain from hunting in this immediate area. We have to remain inconspicuous, you understand." Carlisle explained.

He means me, I thought dizzyingly, me, Charlie, my friends, all of bloody Forks's human population. I'd been willing Anastasia not to hurt anyone when we moved to Forks. I never assumed I'd be willing it of three strange vampires too.

"Of course" Laurent nodded. "We certainly won't encroach on your territory. We just ate outside of Seattle anyway," he laughed. I felt very sick and wondered if I would actually throw up. What exactly had they eaten? _Who_ exactly had they eaten?

"We'll show you the way if you'd like to run with us – Emmett and Alice, you can go with Edward and Bella in the jeep," he added casually

Why? Why the hell did he want to encourage them to stay with us? They could kill me, maybe that's what he secretly wanted. Carlisle may not particularly like me after everything I'd put his family through but I never thought he'd want me dead.

Three things happened simultaneously. My hair ruffled slightly in the breeze, Edward stiffened and the second male, James, suddenly whipped his head round scrutinizing me, nostrils flaring.

A swift rigidity fell on all of them as James lurched one step forward in a crouch. Edward bared his teeth, crouching in defence, a feral snarl ripping from his throat. I stumbled backwards terrified. Mainly of James but also, sort of Edward. The fact that he was a vampire was shining of him now, his snarl was like an animal, his face the same as when he'd been set on killing us a few weeks ago.

"What's this?" Laurent explained in open surprise as if he didn't understand what was going on. Neither Edward nor Laurent relaxed their aggressive poses. James feinted slightly to the side and Edward shifted in response. I would be running like hell if I didn't know I'd be safer with Edward.

"She's with us." Carlisle said firmly in the direction of James. Laurent seemed to properly notice me then an awareness dawning on his face.

"You brought a snack?" he asked voice edged with incredulousness as he seemed to take an involuntary step forward.

A snack? That was both horrifying and insulting. I could only imagine how Anastasia would have reacted if he'd called her a 'snack'.

Edward snarled even more ferociously, harshly, showing glistening teeth. I had half a mind to back away from _him_. Laurent steeped back again.

"I said she's with us" Carlisle corrected in a hard voice.

"But she's _human_" Laurent protested. The words were not aggressive, merely astounded. Anastasia wouldn't have reacted well at that title either.

"Yes" Emmett said in a voice which suggested he was stating the obvious. His eyes were glued to James. James himself straightened out of his crouch but his eyes were still on me.

When Laurent broke the silence his tone of voice was actually soothing – not that it made me feel any more relaxed – and seemed to be trying to diffuse the sudden hostility. "It appears we had a lot to learn each other"

"Indeed" said Carlisle voice still cool

"But we'd like to accept your invitation." His eyes flicked toward me and back to Carlisle "And, of course, we will not harm the human girl and we won't hunt in your range."

James glanced at Laurent in what seemed like both disbelief and aggravation. Then he exchanged another brief look with Victoria, whose eyes were still flickering from face to face, still blindingly unaware of the fairy in her hair who it seemed to have invited a friend to join the tangle. Fairies liked people with brightly coloured hair, so hers was a prime target, that was one thing that really annoyed me about Anastasia's faulty spell which had turned my eyes blue and hair red, now fairies followed me like glue. Still I'd give anything for her to be here right now.

Carlisle measured Laurent's expression for a moment before he spoke "We'll show you the way. Jasper, Rosalie, Esme?" he called. They converged together blocking me from view even though I knew the other vampires could smell me. Alice was instantly by his side, and Emmett fell back slowly, his eyes locked on James.

"Let's go Bella" Edward said low and bleak.


	97. Dispute on Return

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – except Anastasia, Zarbien and Coral – they belong to Stephenie Meyer. **

**Getting really close to the end here...**

**Apov**

I rematerialized with Zarbien feeling sick. Not because I had just travelled across continents, from an ocean to the land, I didn't get travel sick, not easily anyway; no I felt sick because I kept thinking about Coral. What would happen to her now? I supposed she'd be fine, she'd be in her natural territory, she'd learn how to be a terrific water witch, she'd be a huge hit in Atlantis, the city half the size of a continent. Still, I knew her well enough to know it wasn't what she wanted.

I made a vow to myself never to let what my family or Zeke's want get in the way of what _I_ truly wanted in my life. I could make my own decisions. I wasn't going to end up as one of those silly girls always walking behind someone.

Coral and I had met when we were both seven, I'd returned back to America from a brief forced visit to see my other side of my family, she'd been returning from Atlantis to live for a short time on land (which had escalated to ten years). We'd crashed into each other while trying to get through a crowd of people causing me to fall and hit my head and her to drop all her luggage. We'd got into a massive argument over whose fault it was and started furiously throwing spells at each other. We were just kids so we didn't have overly advanced magic enough to kill each other but we did have to be broken up by a travel warden the size of a land rover. Two weeks later we met again but this time we had both been caught in an ambush - compliments to some creepy magical child molesters – and had managed to fight our way out of it together, something we probably wouldn't have been able to do alone. We'd been great friends since and now I felt rather upset I would never see her again.

I pocketed the beads and looked around Bella's house, I still didn't like it, why would anyone, even any human, want to live in a place like this? August seemed like a lifetime away. Why couldn't I have been the older sister? That way I'd be at Darkhalls already.

I looked at the old clock on the mantelpiece. Huh? Time difference wasn't bad from the ocean to here, in fact it rather worked to my advantage. I wondered how Bella had taken the cancellation of that baseball match. Probably not too badly she wasn't a big fan of the sport to my knowledge. Oh well.

I headed to the living room deciding it was probably a good thing for her that we didn't end up going, there was a fair chance the task I'd planned would have killed Edward. I decided to read my spell book, Bella could sulk up in her room if she wanted I wasn't all that bothered.

I walked in and saw a piece of paper on the table. Many people would have just ignored it but as a witch I had hunched when things had some significance to them. I walked over and picked it up. It was from Bella, hmm she...

I read it and went cold all over with every sentence blood running to my head as I read it. She'd left me behind. The paper caught fire in my hands fluttering to the floor in ashes.

"_Edward_!" I shouted furiously

He'd done this, I knew Bella wouldn't. What did he think he was doing? Who did he think he was? Taking her out to the secluded forest with six other vampires whilst they get competitive, that rubber headed lunatic!

"If you've hurt her," I said out loud as if he could hear me "If any one of your family has so much as scratched her I will kill you _all_!"

The vase against the wall exploded in a shower of pottery. I didn't even flinch, I was too angry.

_Careful_ said Zarbien shaking some shards out of his mane.

I didn't care, this Edward was crossing a line. How dumb do you have to be to do that? With me she'd be fine, she'd be safe but she could hardly fight of a type-two vampire if it lost control, even a domesticated one.

_Are you going to trash the rest of the living room?_ Zarbien asked

"No" I growled

_Are we going to find her?_

"Yes"

Then there was a pause only filled by my now heavy breathing.

_Are you going to kill Edward? _

I looked at him "I think you know the answer to that"

**Bpov**

We left the area, Emmett and Jasper close behind us, hiding me almost. I was stumbling along in fear numb all over. I couldn't hear if the others have left yet still the image of the blonde one was burned so firmly into my mind he might as well have been standing in front of me.

Edward slung me over his back which I still found uncomfortable and took of his level of speed. I gripped as tightly as I could keeping my head down. I tried to distract myself wondering if I spent enough time running with Edward I might be able to make a trip on Zarbien without throwing up. The others followed but I had the feeling rage or fear was speeding his strides because the others began to trail behind.

We reach the jeep in a very short space of time and Edward barely slowed as he flung me into the backseat in a very undignified manner.

"Strap her in" he ordered Jasper, who slid in beside me.

Emmett went for the front seat whilst Jasper scowled at the seatbelt clearly having trouble doing it one-handed. In the end I did it myself giving him a supportive smile which just earned me an expressionless look. I got the feeling he was still sensitive about his new condition. Edward started the engine which roared to life making me jump and we swerved backwards spinning around to face the road in a U-turn.

Edward was growling something too fast for me to understand, but it sounded like a string of profanities.

The jolting trip was much worse this time the speed limit a distant memory. His driving rather reminded me of Anastasia's whenever she was in a slight hurry.

The darkness around us only made it more frightening. Type-sixteen fairies may retreat at night but it was still the peak of magical presences. Emmett and Jasper were still busy glaring out the side windows.

We hit the main road speed excelling even further. From here I could see much better where we were going and in a wave of confusion I realised it was away from Forks.

"Where are we going?" I asked dumbfounded

No-one answered. None of them even looked at me.

"Dammit, Edward! Where are you taking me?"

"We have to get you away from here – far away – now." He said eyes on the road as I noticed the speedometer read one hundred and five miles per hour.

"Turn around! You have to take me home!" I shouted struggling with the stupid harness, tearing at the straps that held me like vines.

"Jasper" Edward said grimly

Jasper reached over and secured my hands. Even with one arm he was impossibly strong.

"Edward I need to get back to Anastasia. Don't you get it, she can look after me?" I cried fear levels rocketing inside me

"I don't want you within a hundred miles of here Bella" Edward said firmly "We need to get you far away, somewhere safe"

"Edward if I'm safe anywhere on this godforsaken planet it's with Anastasia. They can't hurt me if I'm with her!" I cried stunned he wouldn't believe me.

"Maybe she's right" said Jasper, the person I thought would be least likely to back me up

"What?" demanded Edward

"That...that girl" Jasper said with evident dislike "Is something else. I get the feeling she might be able to deal with them."

"We could probably fight them off ourselves" added Emmett

"Edward you saw how easily she could kill you, for the love of god these guys will be nothing to her. Now take me _back_!"

Edward seemed torn "But he's a tracker" he shouted "A _tracker_"

I felt Emmett stiffen beside me. This clearly meant something to the three of them, something not good and I wasn't stupid I could take a good guess what it meant.

"Anastasia!" I shouted again to remind them of the seriousness of the situation "You can't make me leave her, I won't. I will-not-leave-her!" I literally thrashed against the harness.

"She's right" Emmett said

The car slowed slightly.

"Please Edward" I pleaded

He shut his eyes looking pained then the car swung round

"Are we going back to Anastasia?" I said

"I am really going to regret this" muttered Edward

I felt wave of relief wash over me but still felt my heart beating madly. I kept looking towards the rear-view mirror like I was going to see a vampire ploughing after us. But I was at the wrong angle to see anything anyway.

"Okay here's house it goes" Edward said instructively "If your sister is home we...I don't know inform her and help her deter these vampires. If she's not we get the hell out of here."

"What do you mean if she's not there" I squeaked

"Well she wasn't there earlier" he said bluntly

"But...but she has to be there"

"Bella we don't know" he growled "If she's not we go to plan B and get you as far away from here as possible"

I felt very very sick and then gritted my teeth. No, I was not going to give up, Anastasia wouldn't just leave me. She _wouldn't_.

"Well we won't need to go to plan B" I said firmly "Because Anastasia is at _home_"

"No she's not" said a voice from the back of the jeep


	98. To Kill Edward Or Not To Kill Edward

**First of all, happy Easter everyone! **

**Secondly I'd like to say I'm uploading this chapter and the next two up a in a row so hopefully it will back it near the front of the story queue because yes I have finally finished. **

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Zarbien. **

**Epov**

I hit the breaks so hard he nearly totalled the car with us all inside. Bella shot forward her seatbelt grabbing her causing her to choke.

"Argh" she cried

We all turned round and there she was, Bella's sister looking very angry. She had one leg on the floor and the other on the seat and was looking darker and more dangerous than any vampire I had ever set my eyes on, no competition.

"Anastasia?" Bella exclaimed stupidly

"The one and only" she said with no expression then pointed at me sending chills through my body

"You, out, _now_" she said in a voice which only the devil could disobey

I simply didn't have the willpower to put up resistance and got out the front seat jumping to the ground. It was dark outside, the sky scattered with stars. I could see well in the dark though.

Her lion was standing outside already and growled as it looked at me. I could recall quite a lot of what happened back that night we ended up in what looked like a fantasy book forest. That lion had beaten me then and I was pretty sure it could now.

Bella got out the car and gave a yelp as she fell more than jumped out of the car and twisted her ankle.

"Anastasia what are you-"

Anastasia turned and looked at Bella raised a hand and in one snapping motion Bella collapsed and fell to the floor like a rag doll.

"Bella!" I exclaimed in alarm as she hit ground limp hair flailing around her face

"Don't move" growled Anastasia and I quite literally rooted to the spot. No joke, branches burst out from the earth winding up my legs. They looked like wood but must have been something else because no matter how hard I tugged I couldn't get out of their grip and I was a vampire.

"We need to talk Cullen" she said icily

Emmett and Jasper got out of the car and seemed uncertain what to be doing in this scene.

"Why did you come out here without me?" she demanded

"We went to the baseball game" I said lamely

"Did you not get my note?" she said voice deadly quiet

If I didn't tell her now Bella would later. "Yes we got it"

Zarbien snarled

Jasper had been eyeing him the whole time "What did he say?" he asked

"He says if you don't keep your mouth shut he will bite of your other arm" Anastasia snapped not taking her eyes off me. I wish she would, I could feel my skin burning under her gaze.

"Listen Cullen you have absolutely no right to put Bella in this kind of danger. You're either full of yourself or just stupid or both. I'm going to go with both." She said

"Look I'm sorry, it was a stupid mistake"

She stared at me "That's all you have to say? I could kill you, I still might, I'm seriously considering it. My friend Cassandra thinks I should, my rational mind says I should. Why should I let her date such an idiot pompous jackass? Why?"

I really didn't know what to say. Sometimes my family gave me playful insults but no-one had quite seemed to hate me quite as much as her. Hell she didn't just hate me she _loathed_ me.

"Give me one good reason not to kill you" she ordered

"Um..."

"_Now_!"

"Bella loves me" I said. Thinking of the only thing that might work.

Her eyes narrowed and I realised with surprise that she actually had been asking me for a reason because she didn't know, she looked torn in two.

"She shouldn't. I've watched the way you act around her, I've seen guys like you before, the kind who think they're in charge and can choose their girlfriend's friends. I detest guys like you." Anastasia said putting enough poison in each syllable to poison a rhinoceros.

"Look I will never-"

"Don't never me" she said rolling her eyes "Guys say that but they don't mean it. I've seen it over and over again. And I really don't think I care all that much about what Bella feels. You're already trying to turn her on her own family. Boyfriend's shouldn't do that."

She took a step forward threateningly

"I didn't try and turn her against you" I protested

This was a bit of a lie. Still I think 'turn against' was a bit of an exaggeration.

"Bella wouldn't leave against my command, I know her. You changed her mind you ignorant prat!" Another step

"I'm trying to get along with you. But after everything that's happened you're making it hard. I will try harder but you can't just break me and Bella up just because of a quarrel between us."

"Oh can't I?" she said taking a third step beginning to raise a hand

"Haven't you ever cared about someone who doesn't liked your family and forgiven them for it?"

Something strange happened then. Anastasia took a fourth step and looked as she had missed her footing. My words had had some effect on her.

"You don't know what you're talking about" she hissed

I knew I had stuck gold.

"Whoever it was, it's just the same with me and you, I can fix this if you'll let me. Don't let this argument get between us ruin me and Bella." I pleaded

She seemed to hesitate. I couldn't believe it, she had been in this situation before, roles reversed.

Emmett and Jasper seemed frozen out of the picture, there was only me and her as if I were up against a firing squad. My whole fate depending on her choice.

She looked up to meet my eyes, dark as night

"Please" I whispered

"You will never do this again." She said as an order not a request hatred still burning in her tone "You will look after Bella properly, not try and gain the upper hand and will _never_ disobey me again"

I nodded feverishly not exactly in any place to argue.

"Alright, I'll let you live but break any of those rules and I swear to god I will kill you, and I won't do it nicely either, clear?"

"Clear"

She looked at her lion then at Bella who suddenly gave a shudder. Her head snapped up like a jack-in-the-box. She stared at the scene, her sister and the lion, Jasper and Emmett staring, me with my legs rooted to the ground, then jumped to her feet and ran in front of me like a human shield.

"Don't hurt him" she cried "Please, I'll do anything."

"Good" Anastasia nodded "I want to be able to practise magic wherever I want whenever I want even if it means hurting your father, never have to go to that dismal school and you will never _ever_ to talk about how you think how your brainless boyfriend is good-looking ever again" she said looking at me with distaste. Clearly vampire good-looks didn't phase her like they did human girls.

"Deal" Bella said quickly

I could have laughed. That manipulative bitch.

I felt the roots retreat from the ground beneath me. Releasing me. Bella turned and hugged me tightly "Its okay, she won't hurt you"

"Um hate to interrupt this bonding but um well you all seem to have forgotten something" Emmett said

We all turned to him. I'd practically forgotten he was there.

"The vampires. The tracker."

I felt Bella tense in my arms. Anastasia folded her arms.

"What?" she said

"There are vampires after us. Three of them" Bella said

"Type two vampires?"

We all nodded

"Domesticated ones?"

Emmett, Jasper and I exchanged a puzzled glance but Bella said yes. Domesticated, I would hardly call us domesticated.

Anastasia glared at me "You see what happens when you disobey me? You are seriously on the edge here."

"Can you take them down?" I mumbled

"If they're like you then yeah, easily" she said "But Bella couldn't, she could have been really hurt, you really make my blood boil Cullen"

Then a new voice broke out from the clearing, making us all turn round as out of the trees emerged two figures, each startling good-looking. Victoria and James.

"Well that sounds tempting" said James.

"Am I to take it these are said vampires?" Anastasia said flatly

I swung Bella behind me defencefully preparing to fight. I wouldn't let them hurt her.

Turned out I really didn't need to. Anastasia said something sharp an inaudible. Laurent and Victoria suddenly started shaking and screaming as if they were burning alive. Then they both simultaneously they both exploded loudly into a mass of golden, blue, purple flames dancing lighting up the night around us.

I clutched Bella to my chest as the glade dazzled in the lights like an aurora borealis. It was actually a beautiful sight despite everything. Everything was alright now, I knew Laurent wouldn't go after Bella. We were safe.


	99. The End

**This is the final chapter and kind of an epilogue at the same time. **

**Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me – they belong to Stephenie Meyer – except Anastasia and Zarbien**

**Bpov**

Things had only been getting better recently. Sometimes I could still scarely believe I was dating a _vampire_ and my sister was okay with it. Well, okay might be a bit of an exaggeration but not killing him was good enough for me.

We'd returned to school, me and Edward. Both of us pretended to be completely normal, normal lives, normal relationship, no knowledge or magic or anything of the sort. And as it turned out Anastasia wasn't the only the one not best pleased by our relationship, Mike in particular had overnight gained a serious dislike of Edward. Charlie wasn't ecstatic either but I suppose that's what all father's are suppose to be like.

Charlie had been taking some serious hits recently. Anastasia never came to school and now with my full consent to perform magic in the house, when she wasn't vanishing off to see her friends she was wrecking the house. This meant Charlie had to be out of it. Still I didn't regret my actions, if I hadn't accepted to her terms she would have killed Edward.

My life seemed to orientate around him now. Anastasia had given me the 411 about how to make sure he didn't get his way with everything. It rather made me laugh.

She was still holding Edward at fault for 'kidnapping' me as she put it and allowing those vampires trying hunt me down and kill me. He was far from disagreeing with her. This meant I had rules that hadn't existed before, curfews and visiting hours. It was all very strict but I didn't care to much, it wasn't like I often left the house after dark. As I said before the percentage of the forest's magical population came out at night.

His family were still rather cool towards me after all the trouble we caused but Esme was almost back to her usual overly kind self and whilst I was at Edward's house Alice had approached me and tried to dress me up with makeup and expensive clothes. When Anastasia saw me afterwards she looked what could possibly be defined as disgusted and said I looked like a sleazy Barbie doll then made Alice take it all off. Oh well, I hadn't cared, in fact I'd privately agreed.

Edward had tried to take me to the prom calling it a surprise. However naturally Anastasia had forced him to tell her first. Then she'd told me and I automatically refused to go. Didn't he know me at all? He'd attempted to talk me into it but Anastasia had blasted him out the door saying that if I didn't want to go I didn't haven to go. So that was the end of that discussion.

Throughout my life I'd always been freaked about my future but honestly I was concentrating on the present, the future would unfold itself, I'd deal with it when it came. At this point I was living in the now and thoroughly enjoying it. Still that did not mean I'd want to go so far as go dancing with my balancing skills.

Jacob Black had made an appearance. I was startled, he must have grown a foot and a half since I'd last seen him. He had a message or rather a warning from his father to stay away from Edward. But I was past warnings by now.

Neither Anastasia nor Edward seemed best pleased at his appearance. I just smiled away there distasteful looks. I knew there would always be friction between them but found it didn't matter too much. As long as I had them both, as long as I could _love_ them both, then it really didn't matter how they felt towards to each other. I would always be complete with them, always and forever.

* * *

**By Zara Ross**

**The End**


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